Japan's jobless rate held at 2.5 percent, and the rise in unemployment came from people who did not choose to leave
The rate did not move.
Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.5 percent in June, the same reading as May, according to the Labour Force Survey the Statistics Bureau published on Friday morning in Tokyo. It was 2.7 percent for men and 2.3 percent for women.
Underneath it, 1.78 million people were counted as unemployed, 20,000 more than a year earlier and the eleventh consecutive month of year on year increase. What changed is the reason. Separations the survey classifies as involuntary rose by 60,000 to 440,000, and the subset attributed specifically to the circumstances of an employer or a business rose by 30,000 to 220,000. Separations recorded as voluntary fell by 40,000 to 750,000. People newly looking for work rose by 30,000 to 480,000.
In the four months the release tabulates side by side, June is the only one in which the involuntary count rose while the voluntary count fell. In April the two moved the other way.
Employment kept growing, more slowly
There were 68.90 million people in work in June, 170,000 more than a year earlier and a fifth consecutive monthly increase. The pace has narrowed, though. The same column of the table shows a year on year gain of 640,000 in April and 520,000 in May. Employees, the narrower measure that excludes the self-employed and family workers, reached 62.45 million and have now risen year on year for 52 straight months.
Regular staff numbered 37.41 million, up 210,000, a 32nd consecutive increase. Non-regular staff numbered 21.57 million, up 200,000. Non-regular workers made up 36.6 percent of employees excluding executives, a tenth of a point higher than a year earlier, and the employment rate reached 62.8 percent, or 80.7 percent among people aged 15 to 64.
Manufacturing recorded the largest industry gain, at 10.59 million and 390,000 more than a year earlier, having been 120,000 lower on the same basis in March. Education and learning support added 170,000. Medical and welfare added 160,000. Agriculture and forestry lost 160,000, and the number of self-employed and family workers fell by 140,000 to 6.22 million.
The population aged 15 and over fell by 30,000 over the year. The number of people outside the labour force fell by 210,000 to 38.96 million, a 52nd consecutive decline.
