Japan’s non-regular employees, which includes temporary workers, dispatch workers, contractors, part-time workers and others, totalled 21.33 million in September 2022, up 3.6% when compared to the same period a year ago, according to data from Statistics Japan.

The number of ‘dispatched workers from temporary labour agencies’ reported an increase of 7.2% over the year and stood at a total of 1.49 million while the number of temporary workers overall increased by 6.6% to 4.66 million.

Labour market data also showed that the unemployment rate stood at 2.6% in September, from the previously reported figure of 2.50% in August 2022.

The total number of unemployed persons stood at 1.83, down 3.6% over the year. The number of employed persons stood at 67.66 million, up 0.6% over the year.

The job-to-applicant ratio rose 0.02 points from the previous month to 1.34, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said. The ratio means there were 134 job openings for every 100 job seekers.