2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

A Study of Structural Change of Local Area : The impact of Massification of Higher Education in Japan

Research Project

Project/Area Number	20730526
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Sociology of education
Research Institution	Tohoku University
Principal Investigator	INOMATA Toshiyuki Tohoku University, 高等教育開発推進センター, 助教 (60436178)
Project Period (FY)	2008 – 2010
Keywords	高等教育 / 地域 / 就業構造 / 社会変動
Research Abstract	As the service industry has the largest share of the working population and the highest ratio of university graduates, it has been the most influenced by the expansion of the university graduate labor force in Japan. Local areas where the total service industry working population increased also saw remarkable expansion of the total working population and also the ratio of university graduates in employment. On the other hand, local areas where the increase in the service industry working population was less significant did not see a rise in the ratio of university graduates. Furthermore, the latter areas had relatively small increases in their young labor force. So there are differences by local areas in capacities for especially young university graduates absorption, and these factors increase area differentials within the labor market.