Jobless rate rises to 5.4% in June

Japan's unemployment rate worsened to 5.4 percent in June.

The internal affairs ministry says the seasonally adjusted jobless rate was up 0.2 percentage points from a month earlier and close to the all-time high of 5.5 percent recorded in April 2003.

The number of workers fell by 1.51 million from a year earlier to 63 million.

The number of jobless increased by a record 830,000 to 3.48 million.

In a separate report, the labor ministry says the ratio of job offers to job seekers in June dropped by 0.01 point from May to 0.43, meaning there were 43 jobs available for every 100 on offer. It was the lowest on record for the second straight month.

For permanent positions, the ratio of job offers to job seekers was at 0.24, the same as May and the lowest on record.

The labor ministry says the deterioration of the employment situation has eased but, as yet, there are no signs of improvement.

It says the severe job situation may continue for some time as industrial production is recovering but at low levels.

2009/07/31 10:53(JST)
(JST: UTC+9hrs.)
Video Quality
Low (256K)High (512K)