According to later estimates which defined the term statistically, the number of freeters grew from 0.5 million in 1982 to 1.01 million in 1992 and 2.08 million by 2002. However, it may also be the lack of demand for graduates that causes the problem. The “Independence and Challenge Plan for Young People” of 2003 and the “Independence and Challenge Action Plan for Young People of 2004 and revised in 2006” supported the tr ansition of freeters towards regular employment mainly through five measures.178 The quantitative objective was a successful transition of 200 000 freeters into regular jobs (MHLW, 2006, and OECD, 2009a). These objectives were pursued subsequently with the introduction of the Job Card system in 2008, and programmes focused more specifically on new school graduates, the problems of NEETs and the employment of older freeters as regular workers have featured prominently among the post-financial-crisis employment measures (MHLW, 2009a).