Tokyo: Japan’s unemployment rate dropped to 2.5 per cent in April, marking the third straight month of decline, the government said in a report on Tuesday.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point from a month earlier, recovering to a level not seen since March 2020, reports Xinhua news agency.
Separately, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, said the job availability ratio rose for the fourth straight month to 1.23.
This equates to there being 123 available jobs for every 100 people seeking them.
The Labor Ministry also said that new hires saw a spike during the Golden Week string of national holidays through early May, especially in the accommodation and food service sectors.
In April, the total number of unemployed people dropped by 30,000 from a month earlier to 1.8 million people, the ministry said.
This marked the third straight month of decline, the statistics bureau said.
Of these, 730,000 people left their jobs of their own volition, an increase of 60,000 people, while 430,000 people were laid off, a drop of 120,000 from a month earlier, the data showed.
The number of new job seekers was unchanged from March at 460,000 people.
–IANS