The number of non-regular employees in Japan, which includes temporary workers, dispatch workers, contractors, part-time workers and others, stood at 20.58 million, down 4.2% over the year  according to data from Statistics Japan.

The number of ‘dispatched workers from temporary labour agencies’ fell by 4.2% to 1.36 million while the number of temporary workers decreased by 8.6% to 4.45 million.

Meanwhile, Japan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 2.9% in January 2021, down 0.1% from the previous month. When compared to the previous year, the unemployment rate rose by 0.5%

According to Nikkei Asia, strong government spending underpinned the economy amid the coronavirus state of emergency imposed since early in the year.

The number of unemployed persons in December 2020 was 1.97 million, this was 23.9% higher than the same period in the prior year.

The number of employed persons in December 2020 was 66.37 million, a decrease of 0.7% from the previous year.

Japan’s job availability ratio of stood at 1.10 in January compared with 1.06 in December, a seven-month high.