We have to adapt to the free-style competition but also take consideration of the Japanese social situation. Many older men who lose their jobs are unable to find new employment. A recent Labour Ministry survey of 13,000 businesses with more than five employees found that only 34 percent were planning to hire new employees over the next three years. Of those, only 17 percent indicated that they would be prepared to hire people over 50. According to the Bureau of Employment Security, unemployed white-collar workers in their 50s who manage to find jobs receive on average an income of just 60 percent of what they were previously making.
Many younger men are unable to start a career.
Young people are feeling very hopeless about their future. Perhaps the most shocking statistic is the 53 percent increase in suicides in 1998 among children and teenagers aged between 10 and 19. The figure reveals a profound alienation among young people. Uncertainty about their own future, social and economic pressures on families, as well as broader concerns about the state of the world are undoubtedly factors in producing intense frustrations and depression. It dealt with a new phenomenon in Japanese schools known as gakkyu hokai , or classroom collapse.