Enrolling rate to higher education including university, junior college, and vocational school in Japan is continuously increasing and was 83.5% in 2020.¹ And the number of university students as of May 2020, approximately 2.6 million, is also the largest ever. According to the annual survey conducted by Japan National Federation of University Cooperative Associations from October to November 2020, the proportion of university students working part‐time declined sharply to 72.4% in the first half fiscal year of 2020 from 83.9% in 2019.² The same survey reported that the earning from part‐time job accounts for approximately 60% of the income for students living with the family and for one‐fifth to one‐fourth for students living away from the family. The decline was observed not only in the number of students working part‐time but in the amount of earning although 61.9% of the university students in the survey reported that their life was better‐off in spite of the fact that one‐fourth of the survey respondents foresaw financial hardship in near future. It is still difficult to summarize the multifaceted influence of the global COVID‐19 pandemic, but university students would be one of the most affected groups in the population. From occupational health point of view, these situations encountered by university students may represent that of nonregular workers in general, on which the pandemic has brought differential negative impact. The proportion of nonregular employment in 2020 decreased for the first time in the last decade, indicating their vulnerability of the job security.^{3, 4}

In the present issue of the Journal of Occupational Health, Tsurugano et al. reported that nearly half of working students lost their jobs as of late May 2020 according to the online nonanonymous survey of living conditions conducted at a national science and engineering university in Tokyo.⁵ The survey included 2530 responses, which accounts for approximately 50% of the students consisting of 70 % undergraduates and 90% men. They also identified 37.4% of students were financially insecure. The report provided context analyses of free text entries, and extracted the following five broad response categories: income, job search, financial support, continuing studies, and health. They are literally very impressive and indicates urgent needs to identify those vulnerable students as well as the countermeasures. Indeed, they found that students with economic insecurity were more likely to have poor self‐rated health compared to those who were financially stable.

A similar survey conducted in Akita prefecture found 23% of male and 20% of female university students in the financial insecurity, which was associated with 2.79 times higher risk of suicide‐related ideation.⁶ This finding is worrisome as monthly suicide rates reportedly increased by 16% after the first state of emergency from July to October 2020 in Japan, with a larger increase among females and children and adolescents.⁷ Furthermore, a meta‐analysis of 27 studies published by July 27, 2020, that included 90,879 college students reported that anxiety and depression are quite prevalent among college students (39.4% and 31.2%, respectively).⁸ The study also found high pooled prevalence of stress (26.0%), posttraumatic stress disorder (29.8%), and impaired sleep quality (50.5%).

As Tsurugano et al. concluded, the sudden economic insecurity brought about by the global COVID‐19 chaos would have long‐lasting consequences and regrettable loss of young generation unless sufficient public support is provided as it is likely to be having a devastating effect on their studies and health.

日本的高等教育（包括大学，大专和职业学校）的入学率持续增长，到2020年为83.5％^。1截至2020年5月，大学生人数约为260万，也是有史以来最多的。根据日本大学合作协会全国联合会从2020年10月至2020年11月进行的年度调查，非全日制工作的大学生比例从2019年的83.9％急剧下降至2020年上半年的72.4％^。2同一份调查还报告说，兼职工作的收入大约占与家庭住在一起的学生收入的60％，占家庭以外的学生占五分之一至四分之一。尽管从事非全日制工作的学生人数有所下降，但收入水平却有所下降，尽管接受调查的大学生中有61.9％的人报告说，尽管有四分之一的学生的生活状况有所好转。受访者预见了不久的将来会遇到财务困难。仍然很难总结全球COVID-19流行病的多方面影响，但是大学生将是人口中受影响最大的群体之一。从职业健康的角度来看，大学生遇到的这些情况可能代表了一般非正规工人的情况，大流行对其带来了不同的负面影响。2020年非正规就业的比例在过去十年中首次下降，表明他们的就业保障脆弱性。^{3 4}

在本期《职业健康杂志》中，敦贺野等人。据东京一所国立理工大学进行的在线非匿名生活状况调查显示，截至2020年5月下旬，将近一半的在职学生失业。⁵该调查包括2530份回答，大约占学生总数的50％，其中70％的是本科生，而90％的是男性。他们还确定了37.4％的学生在经济上没有安全感。该报告提供了对自由文本条目的上下文分析，并提取了以下五个广泛的响应类别：收入，工作搜索，财务支持，继续学习和健康。从字面上看，它们给人留下了深刻的印象，并表明迫切需要确定那些弱势学生以及对策。的确，他们发现与经济状况稳定的学生相比，经济不安全的学生更容易受到自我评估的健康状况。

在秋田县进行的一项类似调查发现，在经济不安全状况下，有23％的男性大学生和20％的女性大学生与自杀相关的想法发生风险高2.79倍。⁶这一发现令人担忧，因为据报道，自2020年7月至2020年10月日本首次进入紧急状态后，每月自杀率增加了16％，其中女性，儿童和青少年的自杀率上升幅度更大。⁷此外，一项针对2020年7月27日发表的27项研究的荟萃分析，其中包括90,879名大学生，报告称大学生中焦虑和抑郁非常普遍（分别为39.4％和31.2％）。⁸ 这项研究还发现，压力综合患病率高（26.0％），创伤后压力障碍（29.8％）和睡眠质量受损（50.5％）。

如Tsurugano等。总之，除非提供足够的公共支持，否则全球COVID-19混乱所带来的突然的经济动荡将带来长期后果，并令人遗憾地失去年轻一代，因为这很可能对他们的学习和健康造成破坏性影响。