The government held a uniform employment examination for people with disabilities on Sunday, for the second time since a hiring scandal came to light last year.
A total of 3,104 people took the first-stage test paper in hope of securing one of the 248 jobs on offer. The exam took place at 15 locations in nine cities, including Tokyo and Osaka.
The exam consisted of multiple-choice questions to measure high school-level knowledge and essay writing.
The names of those who passed the first stage will be announced on Oct. 17, and those individuals will then be called in for interviews. Each applicant can choose to interview at up to three government agencies.
The final results will be announced on Nov. 26.
Successful applicants will start working as regular employees at central government agencies and regional units from later this year.
According to the National Personnel Authority, people with mental disorders accounted for 63.6 percent of all 4,574 applicants, those with physical disabilities 34.0 percent and those with intellectual disabilities 2.4 percent.
Last year, many government ministries and agencies were found to have overstated their numbers of disabled employees.
According to the welfare ministry, the share of disabled employees in the government’s total workforce stood at 2.31 percent as of June 1 — up from 1.22 percent last year, but still below the legally required level of 2.5 percent.
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