 Unemployment rate remains high About 2.9 million people remain unemployed in Japan. According to the government labor force survey announced on December 28, the unemployment rate in November was 4.5 percent (2.9 million), 0.2 percentage points up from the previous month. An increase in contingency employment, such as temps and part timers, contributed to a slight improvement of the rate. The unemployment figures, however, only cover people who are looking for a job, thus excluding the 520,000 young people who do not attend school, work, or receive job training (NEET). A labor ministry survey published on the same day showed that the ratio of job offers to seekers in November was 0.92. The ratio of part time job offers (1.41) alone contributed to improving the ratio as a whole. The average yearly salary was 2,879,129 yen, 0.4 percent up from the previous year due to an increase in overtime pay and bonuses. However, only regular workers benefited from the increase in bonuses (25.8 pct up y/y), while part timers' bonuses decreased by 9.2 percent. The total working hours a month was increased by 1.0 percent to 153.9 hours on average. (end) |