JAPAN

Slim Pickings for Graduates Predicted: In yet another sign of the economic pain that Japan’s worst postwar recession has inflicted, a survey says companies will sharply cut their intake of new graduates next year. The report by the economic daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said companies will trim their recruitment of new graduates by 17% in the fiscal year starting in April, 1994, compared to the number hired this spring. Most Japanese firms have traditionally absorbed a certain number of graduates every year, but firms have started reducing the numbers as they cut down on costs.