Mynavi Co., Ltd. announced the results of the "Mynavi 2026 Graduation College Student Job Opportunities Survey," conducted on university and graduate students nationwide who are scheduled to graduate in 2026. Valid responses: 36,311 (11,044 liberal arts males, 14,946 liberal arts females, 6,495 science males, and 3,826 science females).
Regarding their view on employment, 37.4% of students answered "I want to work happily," which was the most common answer, as in previous years. The next most common answer was "I want to balance my personal life and work (25.6%)," which has increased for three consecutive years and is the largest increase from the previous year at 3 points, indicating that students are becoming more aware of work-life balance.
On the other hand, the percentage of those who answered "as long as I have an income" (8.4%) has also increased for five consecutive years, more than tripling the percentage from ten years ago (5%). Due to the recent rise in prices, more students are feeling the rise in "food costs," "rent," and "canteen and co-op prices," and the number of students who feel "anxious about money" is also on the rise. It is speculated that as the financial burden and anxiety continues to grow, more students are becoming concerned about their income.
Those interested in working for a large company were 51.8%, exceeding 2% for the second consecutive year, but down 5 percentage points from the previous year.Those interested in working for a medium-sized or small company were 1.9%, up 43.0 percentage points from the previous year. Looking at the details, the biggest increase was in "medium-sized or small companies are preferable" (0.1%), up 7.7 percentage points from the previous year.
According to Mynavi's 2026 Corporate New Graduate Recruitment Plans Survey, the number of companies planning to raise starting salaries has increased compared to 25 graduates, and the increase was particularly large at companies with fewer than 300 employees, suggesting that the movement to raise starting salaries is spreading beyond listed companies. Until now, raising starting salaries by listed companies and large companies had attracted social attention, but the movement to raise starting salaries has become more active in a wide range of industries, and wages and other conditions of employment have been reviewed, which is thought to be one of the reasons behind the increase in students interested in working for SMEs and medium-sized companies.
When it comes to choosing a company, 51.9% (up 2.0 points from the previous year) chose "a stable company," which remains the most popular answer for the seventh consecutive year, exceeding 7% for the first time. "A company that pays well" also increased for the fourth consecutive year, rising 5 points from the previous year to 4%. As with the increase in the answer "As long as I have an income" in job hunting, this is likely due to economic concerns caused by rising prices and trends such as increases in starting salaries and wage increases.
On the other hand, when asked which company they would most like to work for, 38.2% chose "companies with strict quotas," which was the second most common answer, at 2% (up 31.0 points from last year), and this year was also over 0.7%, marking the fifth consecutive year of increase.
One of the reasons for the increase in "companies with frequent transfers" is thought to be the recent trend of students wanting both partners to work. When asked about work after marriage, 1% of students answered that "it would be preferable for both partners to work," which is a high trend. As lifestyles change, especially attitudes about work after marriage, it is thought that many students are resistant to frequent changes in workplace due to transfers.
Reference: [Mynavi Co., Ltd.] "Mynavi 2026 Graduation College Student Job Hunting Survey" released
