Tokyo – Japanese Government on Friday said its unemployment rate improved in the month of November for the first time in four months.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the unemployment rate stood at 2.2 per cent in the recording month, dropping 0.2 per cent from October.
The ministry said the number of unemployed people was 1.51 million in the month under review, down by 170,000 from a year earlier and still hovering near the lowest levels since the early 1990s.
The statistics bureau also said that 630,000 people left their jobs of their own volition, a decline of 120,000 from the previous year, while those laid off stood unchanged at 220,000 people.
According to its latest figures, the ministry also said the number of new job seekers dropped to 350,000, down by 20,000 people.
The ministry also said that those in employment rose by 530,000 from a year earlier to 67.62 million in November, marking the 83rd successive month of expansion.
However, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said the job availability ratio stood at 1.57, unchanged from a month earlier.
The ratio equates being 157 available jobs for every 100 people seeking work.
The figures highlight the ongoing labour crunch Japan is experiencing as the workforce is rapidly being hollowed out by Japan’s increasingly aging and shrinking population.
(Xinhua/NAN)
