“Freeter” is a word coined in Japanese that refers to Japanese youth who continue to work as nonregular workers soon after their graduation from school. It is also a shortened form of “free arbeiter,” which connects the English word “freedom” with the German word Arbeit (“work”). During the booms of the 1980s and beginning of 1990s the term “freeter” was originally used to describe Japanese youth who prefer a free working style in their lives. Since the late 1990s, however, “nonregular freeters” started to refer to the miserable young people who failed to find regular work after graduation during periods of recession. According to the definition of the Japanese government, freeters are males and unmarried females between 15 and 34 years old – except students, who actually work or hope to work as part-time or arubaito nonregular workers. The population of freeters in Japan has remained between 1.7 and 1.8 million since the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Whether the number of freeters will increase or not in the future depends on the transition in the Japanese employment system, on economic conditions, and on the effectiveness of ongoing youth policies.