Ministry says Recruit Career acted illegally in Rikunabi data scandal and demands corrective steps

The labor ministry said Friday it has issued administrative guidance to Recruit Career Co. for selling to its clients web browsing data predicting the odds of job-hunting students declining informal job offers, without the students' consent. The ministry judged that selling the data violated the employment security law. The guidance was issued through the Tokyo Labor Bureau. The ministry said providing such information to companies before hiring decisions were made and without the students knowing about it, in a situation where students gave no consent or had no choice but to give consent, weakened the students' position and had a withering effect on their job-hunting activities. It thus demanded that Recruit Career take corrective steps.