Japan Unemployment Rate Down for 1st Time in 7 Months

Tokyo, March 31 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in February declined 0.1 percentage point from the previous month to 2.6 pct, marking its first drop in seven months, the internal affairs ministry said Tuesday. The decline is believed to have reflected an increase in the number of people who found jobs after leaving their previous jobs voluntarily in search of better ones. The number of unemployed people declined by 60,000 to 1.85 million. Of the total, voluntary leavers also decreased by 60,000. Meanwhile, the number of employed people rose by 100,000 to 68.27 million. Separately, the labor ministry said that the seasonally-adjusted ratio of effective job openings to seekers rose 0.01 point to 1.19 in February. The number of active job seekers slid 0.5 pct amid an increase in so-called spot work, in which people work in their spare time. The ratio represents the number of jobs available to each job seeker registered with Hello Work public job placement offices across the country. Active job openings decreased 0.2 pct amid soaring prices, labor-saving efforts at many companies and increases in minimum wages. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]