Japan’s unemployment rate falls to 2.7% in October
- Charles Chau
- Topics: Home Page - News, Japan, Job Cuts, News, Recruitment
The number of unemployed people was 1.82 million in October, a year-on-year decrease of 320,000 people or 14.9%, according to the Ministry of Interior and Communications.
Meanwhile, the number of employed people stood at 66.5 million in October, a drop of 350,000 or 0.5%, compared to the same month last year. The jobs-to-applicants ratio was 1.15, down from 1.16 in the previous month.
The decline in the jobless rate was attributed to the lifting of emergency measures and curbs imposed by the government to stop the spread of the pandemic. The measures mainly affected jobs in the services sector and restaurant sectors and also temporary jobs.
However, the emergence of the newest COVID-19 variant, Omicron, has brought about fresh worries and fears about economy-crippling global lockdowns.
READ: Japan PM hopes businesses can hike wages over 3%
On Tuesday, Japan banned new entries by foreigners globally for at least one month to avert the outbreak of the Omicron variant in the country. Prime minister Fumio Kishida said the measure, reversing a three-week relaxation of travel restrictions, was needed to “avoid the worst-case scenario”.
