Increase in unemployment rate in 2009 reaches a record-high

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Increase in unemployment rate in 2009 reaches a record-high

An increase in the unemployment rate in 2009 has reached a record-high and the ratio of job offers to job seekers has dropped to a record low in 2009.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry on January 29 announced that the average ratio of job offers to job seekers was 0.47, the lowest since the survey began in 1963.

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry survey published on the same day showed that the average unemployment rate in 2009 was 5.1%, a record 1.1 point up from 2008, and the average number of unemployed people in 2009 reached 3.36 million, up a record 710,000 from the previous year.

The reason for the rapid increase in the jobless rate is because a lot of temporary workers were dismissed or had their contracts terminated before they expired by major companies, including auto and electronics manufacturers, and because many small- and medium-sized enterprises went bankrupt.

In December 2009, the monthly unemployment rate was 5.1%, down 0.1 from November and the ratio of job offers to job seekers increased by 0.01 to 0.46 from the previous month. The figure was slightly improved because many job seekers had given up looking a job.

In addition to this, the number of temporary workers who lost or will lose their jobs between October 2008 and March 2010 reached 256,731. Only 54.6% of the unemployed were able to find a new job. The number of full-time workers who were dismissed from companies amounted to 59,846.

- Akahata, January 30, 2010