Following the onset of Japan's economic recession in the early 1990s, the number of company positions available for prospective high school and university graduates dramatically declined, and young Japanese ceased to enjoy the favorable situation, that had long prevailed in which the great majority of job seekers were able to become permanent employees of companies. At the same time, there was a great increase in the number of young people who were engaged in unstable forms of employment, such as temporary or part time work, and who are known as “freeters.”