TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Japan unemployment rises to highest rate since 2017
Change Size
A woman wearing traditional dress uses an umbrella to shelter from the rain while crossing a street in Tokyo on Sept. 24, 2020.
(AFP/Charly Triballeau)
J
apan's unemployment rate rose to 3.0 percent in August, the highest figure since mid-2017, official data showed Friday, illustrating the pandemic's effect on the country's tight labor market.
The figure, up 0.1 percentage points from July, is the first time since May 2017 that the rate has stood at three percent or higher, according to the internal affairs ministry data.
Separate data compiled by the labor ministry showed there were only 104 job openings for every 100 job-seekers in August, worsening from 108 to 100 in the previous month.
Japan was already struggling with the effects of natural disasters and a hike in consumption tax before the coronavirus pandemic crippled the global economy.
Once it hit, there were no mandatory lockdowns in the country, with the government instead asking people to stay at home – a request that was largely heeded.
But that, coupled with a shuttering of the country's borders, battered tourism and consumer spending, with the hospitality industry hit particularly hard.
Japan's labor market is notoriously tight, with employers struggling to hire and the working-age population shrinking in a rapidly ageing society.
Former prime minister Shinzo Abe sought to address that by bringing more women and older people into the workforce, as well as slightly loosening the country's strict immigration policy.
His successor Yoshihide Suga, who took office last month, has pledged to continue Abe's policies.
