Nearly half of the new recruits who started their working lives this month will decline to work abroad if asked, and the ratio of those who want to start their own businesses has fallen to just under 12 percent, according to a survey by a think tank.
The results seem to reflect a trend among young workers of shying away from challenging career options and favoring stable, seniority-based working environments.
The survey of new employees by the non-profit Japan Productivity Center released last week found a record low 50.1 percent of 1,761 respondents polled from late March through April said they would accept offers for overseas assignments, down 4.9 points from last year.