The number of Japan’s non-regular employees, which includes temporary workers, dispatch workers, contractors, part-time workers and others, totalled 20.64 million in April 2023, down 0.3% when compared to the same period a year ago, according to data from Statistics Japan.

Data from Statistics Japan also found that the number of ‘dispatched workers from temporary labour agencies’ decreased by 2.8% over the year and stood at a total of 1.54 million while the number of temporary workers overall decreased by 6.9% to 4.21 million.

Meanwhile, Japan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 2.6%, down 0.2% over the month and up 0.1% over the previous year.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate stood at 2.7%, unchanged from the previous year.

Japan’s employment rate totalled 61.2% in April 2023, up 0.3% over the year. The country’s labour force participation rate stood at 62.9%, up 0.3% over the year.

By industry, the biggest increase in employment was seen in the ‘living-related and personal services and amusement services’, which increased by 4.6% over the year. On the other hand, Education, learning support saw the largest annual decline at 5.2%.

Japan’s job availability ratio remained flat at 1.32 in April. This indicates there were 132 job openings for every 100 job seekers. The number of job openings decreased 0.6% from the previous month, while that of job seekers declined 0.7% at the same time.