The number of Japan’s non-regular employees, which includes temporary workers, dispatch workers, contractors, part-time workers and others, totalled 21.33 million in January 2023, up 3.2% when compared to the same period a year ago, according to data from Statistics Japan.

Meanwhile, the number of ‘dispatched workers from temporary labour agencies’ increased by 5.8% over the year and stood at a total of 1.45 million while the number of temporary workers overall decreased by 0.9% to 4.46 million.

Further data from Statistics Japan also found that the country’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 2.4%, down 0.1% over the month and down 0.4% over the previous year.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate also stood at 2.4%, down 0.3% from the previous year.

The employment rate in Japan stood at 60.7% in January 2023, up 0.6% over the prior year. At the same time, the labour force participation rate stood at 62.2%, up 0.5% over the previous year.

Japan’s job-to-applicant ratio dropped 0.01 point from the previous month to 1.35. The ratio means there were 135 job openings for every 100 job seekers. The fall marked the first decline since August 2020.