Japan Aug. Job Availability Drops to 3-Yr Low

(1st para should have read “… turned lower …,” instead of as sent) Tokyo, Oct. 3 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s job-to-seeker ratio turned lower in August, hitting the lowest level in over three years, the labor ministry said Friday. The seasonally adjusted ratio of job openings to applicants fell 0.02 point from the previous month to 1.20, the weakest reading since January 2022, when the ratio stood at 1.19 amid the COVID crisis, with employers increasingly refraining from adding to workforce amid rising material prices, utility bills and other costs. Obtained from dividing the number of effective job openings by that of effective job applicants at Hello Work employment service offices run by the ministry across the country, the ratio represents per-applicant job availability. In the reporting month, effective job seekers increased 0.7 pct while effective job openings decreased 1.0 pct. Fresh job vacancies became fewer than a year earlier in all industry segments, notably manufacturers and retail and wholesale businesses. On top of the fallout from inflation, progress in labor-saving investments, particularly among retailers as well as hotel and restaurant operators, helped push down the number of new job openings, ministry officials said. Separately, the internal affairs ministry reported the same day that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose 0.3 point month on month to 2.6 pct in August, marking the first uptick in five months, with the unemployed growing 9.1 pct to 1.79 million people reflecting a rise in voluntary turnover. “Still, the employment situation is not bad,” a ministry official said, pointing out that the number of employees remains high. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]