More workers in Japan leaving their jobs for better ones

This was the first seasonally adjusted increase in six months and was mainly attributed to the lifting of pandemic measures in October following a significant drop in the number of infections.

Meanwhile, separate data from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare showed that the job availability ratio in November was unchanged from the previous month at 1.15, meaning that there were 115 job openings for every 100 job seekers.

In November, the total number of unemployed people increased by 100,000 from the previous month to 1.92 million, rising for the first time in three months, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

Out of these, 760,000 people voluntarily left their jobs, up 60,000; 480,000 were laid off, unchanged from the previous month; and 500,000 were new job seekers, up 10,000.

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“The increase in the number of unemployed indicates that more people are seeking jobs with better conditions and is considered to be a reflection of the recent lower number of coronavirus cases and (an economic) pickup,” said a government official, according to Mainichi.