The number of non-regular employees in Japan, which includes temporary workers, dispatch workers, contractors, part-time workers and others, stood at 20.54 million, down 4.5% over the year according to data from Statistics Japan.

The number of ‘dispatched workers from temporary labour agencies’ fell by 5.6% to 1.36 million while the number of temporary workers decreased by 4.8% to 4.39 million.

Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March 2021 stood at 2.6%, down 0.3% from the previous month and up from 2.5% in March 2020.

The number of unemployed persons stood at 1.80 million, down 11.3% when compared to the same period the year prior.

The number of employed persons in March 2021 stood at 66.84 million, down 0.2% when compared to the same period last year.

Japan’s jobs-to-applicant ratio was 1.10 in March 2021, up from 1.09 in the previous month.