–Unemployment at 2.6% from May to July Vs. April’s 2-Year Low 2.5%
–Job Losses Flat M/M in August While Fewer People Seek Other Openings
–Employment Picks Up After Posting 1st Y/Y Drop in 4 months in July
–Number of Unemployed Marks 14th Straight Y/Y Drop; Still Above January 2020 Level
By Max Sato
(MaceNews) – Japanese payrolls picked up in August after posing the first year-on-year drop in four months in July while the unemployment rate edged down to 2.5% from 2.6% as the government continued reopening the economy without urging strict public health rules amid record Covid cases from late July to late August, data released Friday by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed.
The seasonally adjusted average unemployment rate stood at 2.5% in August, down from 2.6% seen in the previous three months, as largely expected. It matched 2.5% in April, which was the lowest since 2.4% in February 2020, 2.6% in March, 2.7% in February and 2.8% in January. The jobless rate moved in a tight range of 2.7% to 3.0% last year.
The latest figure is below the recent high of 3.1% hit in October 2020 but still above 2.2% recorded in December 2019, just before the pandemic triggered a global slump.
The number of employed stood at a seasonally adjusted 67.30 million August, down 40,000 (-0.1%) from July, when it rose just 20,000 on the month. The number of unemployed dipped by 10,000 (-0.6%) to an adjusted 1.75 million after falling 40,000 (-2.2%) the previous month.
The number of people who left for other openings fell 60,000 (-8.0%) in August after rising 20,000 (+2.7%) in July while the number of those who lost their jobs or retired was unchanged after falling 30,000 (-6.5%) the previous month. The number of people who began looking for work rose 50,000 (+11.1%) after being flat previously.
Compared to a year earlier, the number of employed rose 120,000 to an unadjusted 67.51 million in August after falling a slight 20,000 in July. It rose 210,000 in June, 170,000 in May and 240,000 in April, which was the first rise in seven months.
The number of unemployed fell 170,000 on the year to an unadjusted 1.77 million in August, marking the 14th straight month of decline after a decrease of 170,000 the previous month. It has drifted down from a pandemic peak of 2.17 million in October 2020 but is still above 1.60 million at the beginning of 2020.
The government sees employment conditions as “picking up.”
The employment increase in August from a year earlier was led by hotels, restaurants and bars, which posted the second straight year-over-year gain as people dined out and traveled more freely during the first summer without strict public health rules in three years.
Information and telecommunications service providers and the medical and welfare category continued hiring more workers, compared to a year earlier, although at a slower pace than in July.
By contrast, employment among the wholesale and retail industry as well as manufacturers and construction firms continued falling. Those sectors have been shedding payrolls for months.