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TOKYO: Japan’s unemployment rate rose to 3% in August, the highest since mid-2017, official data showed on Friday (October 2), illustrating the effect of the pandemic on the country’s tight labor market. country.
The figure, 0.1 percentage points more than in July, is the first time since May 2017 that the rate stands at 3% or more, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.
Separate data compiled by the Labor Ministry showed there were only 104 job openings for every 100 job seekers in August, worsening from 108 to 100 in the previous month.
Japan was already battling the effects of natural disasters and an increase in the consumption tax before the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed the world economy.
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Once it happened, there were no mandatory closures in the country, and the government asked people to stay home, a request that was widely heeded.
But that, along with the closing of the country’s borders, hit tourism and consumer spending, with the hotel industry being particularly hard hit.
Japan’s labor market is notoriously tight, employers struggle to recruit, and the working-age population shrinks in a rapidly aging society.
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Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tried to address that by bringing more women and older people into the workforce, as well as loosening the country’s strict immigration policy slightly.
His successor, Yoshihide Suga, who took office last month, has vowed to continue Abe’s policies.
