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Japan – Labour market continues ‘on recovery path’

31 July 2015

The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 3.4% in June, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced. That was above forecasts for 3.3%, which would have been unchanged from the May reading. This represented the first rise in unemployment for five months.

The job-to-applicant ratio was 1.20 in June, meaning that 120 positions were available for every 100 job seekers. This was in line with expectations and up from 1.19 in the previous month. The participation rate was 60.0%, up from 59.8% a month earlier.

An official of the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said the labour market "continues to be on a recovery path," as the jobless rate has stayed below 3.5% and the number of employed women hit a record high.

The unemployment rate for women was up 0.1% to 3.1%, while that for men stayed flat at 3.6%, the ministry said in a preliminary report. Some 27.72 million women were on the payroll in June, the highest since comparable data became available in 1953. The total number of people holding jobs gained 0.5% from May to 63.91 million.

Demand for labour appears to be strong in the health-care and information technology sectors, as the number of jobs increased by 500,000, or 6.7%, and 120,000, or 5.8%, respectively, on a year-on-year basis.