• Home
• About/Contact
• Economic Reports
• Research
• Advertising

• Business
• Economics
• Reports
• Finance
• Marketing
• Politics
• Real Estate
• Services
• Retail
• Tech

Subscribe

Unemployment by region in Japan

Over at the Mutantfrog Travelogue, Curzon takes a look at unemployment by prefecture in Japan. While some of the results are unsurprising, such as Okinawa having the highest unemployment rate, other results seem to raise the eyebrows - I never would have guessed that Shimane has the lowest unemployment rate in Japan. The original map, with unemployment listings by prefecture in Japanese, can be found at Maps of Japan.

Japan February CPI up 1.0%, Unemployment up 0.1%, Household Spending Unchanged

We will be getting into these figures a bit more later in the day, but for now just a quick note on the numbers released this morning by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications:

February 2008 Nationwide Consumer Price Index: +1.0%
March 2008 Tokyo CPI: +0.6%

Unemployment: 3.9% (+0.1 from January)

February 2008 Household Spending: Unchanged at 275,827 yen from last year
Monthly household income: 476,282 yen, -0.1% from last year

Unemployment down, job offers per applicant down, and a record number of people employed by temp staffing agencies

After increasing for two straight months and then holding steady in October, Japan’s unemployment rate dropped 0.2% to hit 3.8% in November. Data released yesterday by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications also showed that in November, the number of people employed in Japan stood at 64.33 million, which was an increase of 0.4% from the previous year. On the other hand, November’s figure of 2.46 million unemployed people was down by 5.0% from last year.

Perhaps more interestingly, we see in this month’s Labor Force Survey from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare that the ratio of job offers to job seekers has sunk to a two year low. In November, the ratio was at 0.99, down from 1.02 in October.

We have been slowly watching this ratio slide and a while ago predicted that it would go below 1.0 before the beginning of 2008. We had not seen less than one job offer per applicant since November 2005. This is a bad sign for labor, as it reduces some pressure for wages to rise. The lower unemployment rate, however, might be able to offset that effect. At the same time, it should be good news for employers, who still need to make better choices with regard to hiring.

With relation to hiring practices, we saw one other interesting nugget of information in the ministry’s report. In fiscal 2006, the number of workers in Japan contracted to work by staffing firms and temp agencies exceeded 3 million for the first time.

Fiscal 2006 ended in March 2007, and we saw an increase of 26.1% in the number of workers under contract with staffing agencies compared to fiscal 2005. Of course, FY2005 was the previous record holder.

Here’s where things might get interesting for investors. The government seems to be continuing to deregulate the staffing industry, which means that these firms are able to send workers to more and more types of industries. As this has happened over the past few years, profit and revenue at temporary staffing agencies has soared; In fact, in FY2006 revenue leapt 34.3% to a record 5.42 trillion yen at such firms.

Unemployment steady at 4.0% in October

Yesterday afternoon, the Statistics Bureau released data showing that after two months of rising unemployment rates, in October Japan’s unemployment remained unchanged at 4.0 percent. The number of people employed versus October of 2006 was down 90,000 (0.1%), while the number of people unemployed was down by 110,000, or 3.9 percent.

Last October, the rate was at 4.1 percent. In October 2007, the number of jobs available per applicant was at its lowest level since 2001.

Unemployment up for second straight month in September; number of female workers down; manufacturing, construction and medical industires see drops

After falling for eleven straight months and hitting its lowest point in a decade in July, Japan’s unemployment inched up 0.2% to 3.8% in August. According to data released today by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, that 0.2% rise in Japan’s unemployment rate was replicated in September, which means the unemployment rate now stands at 4.0%.

The number of people without jobs fell by 110,000 from a year earlier to 2.69 million, showing a decrease for the 22nd consecutive month. The number of people employed stood at 64.22 million in September, which was down by 90,000 from last year. That was he first decline in the number of people employed in a year.

Speaking at a press conference today, State Minister in charge of Economic and Fiscal Policy Hiroko Ota said that there is no reason to take it the increase in unemployment seriously, because industrial production is picking up.

Looking into the data a bit, we see that the number of employed males stood at 37.61 million (up by 110,000 from a year earlier). On the other hand, the number of female workers slid by 210,000 to 26.60 million. The unemployment rate for men increased from 3.8% to 4.0% and the unemployment rate for women increased by 0.3% - from 3.7% to 4.0%.

It thus appears as though a sudden increase in the number of women being unemployed is behind the September statistics.

Broken down by industry, although the number of workers increased within the retail, wholesale, food and lodging industries, it fell in all other sectors. The manufacturing, construction and medical industries saw noticeable reductions in the number of employees since last year. We should keep in mind that the number of employees at Japan’s manufacturers actually increased in 2006 for the first time in 15 years.

Japan Economic Reports Roundup: The Good, Bad and Ugly of This Past Week

The Good:

Industrial output has soared to an all-time high, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. August figures showed a rise of 3.4% against the previous month and an increase of 4.3% over the same month last year. This was the first increase posted since May, but the second record-setting high seen this year. According to the ministry, the increase was led by the transport equipment and electronic parts and devices industries. Production is forecast to show a 0.8% decline in September, as much of the August gain was due to the restarting of auto parts factories in Niigata that had been shut down after an earthquake.

Household spending rose 1.6% in August to stand at 296,035 yen per household with two or more occupants. This is the sixth consecutive monthly rise, according to data published by the Statistics Bureau. Spending on ‘culture and recreation’ showed a gain of 10%. According to the same report, average household income was down 1.7% in August and stood at 467,786 yen.

Retail sales were up 0.5% in August, showing their first rise in three months, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

The Bad

Unemployment inched up by 0.2 points to 3.8% in August, according to the Statistics Bureau. 64.46 million people were employed in Japan in August, 190,000 more than a year ago. On the other side, 2.49 million people were out of work, which was a decline of 230,000 people, or 8.5%, from a year ago. This was the first increase in the unemployment rate seen in 11 months.

Consumer prices fell 0.1% in August, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Core CPI has now fallen for seven consecutive months, even as the Bank of Japan continues to predict rises in their statements. Japan’s core CPI does not include fresh food costs. Energy costs, however, are included. Given August’s figures and the shrinking of GDP in the April-June quarter, one has to assume that the BOJ will not be making any move to raise interest rates in September.

The Ugly

Housing starts fell by a record 43% in August. Ground was broken on 63,076 new units last month, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Stricter regulations that were put in place following revelations that data had been falsified to show that many homes were earthquake resistant was blamed. Those regulations came into effect on June 20. Housing starts had shown a 23.4% decline in July

Unemployment Rate Down to 3.7% in June

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications published its monthly report on the state of Japan’s labor force, which showed that Japan’s unemployment rate had dipped by 0.1% to reach 3.7% in June. This is the lowest level for the unemployments rate since February of 1998.

According to the report, 2.41 million people were unemployed in June, which was 370,000, or 13.3% fewer than June of last year.

64.91 million people were counted as employed, which was an increase of 530,000 or 0.8% from June 2006.

By age bracket, the 15-24 age group saw the largest gains in the percentage of people employed, with the male unemployment rate decreasing by 0.7% to 8.5%, and the female rate falling 2.1% to 5.8%.

The number of people classified as ’self employed’ saw the greatest percentage gain, and was up by 1.4% to 6,400,000 people. The number of ‘family workers’ decreased by 0.8% to 2,580,000 people, and that was the only category showing a decrease.

By major industry, construction (-4.4%), services (-1.7%) and Transportation (-0.3%) saw reductions in the number of workers, while hospitality (+2.7%), manufacturing (1.9%), wholesale and retail (1.2%) and medical services (+0.9%) all saw increases in the number of workers.

The question to ask now must be: with the unemployment rate approaching what might be its lowest possible levels, will we start to see wage growth and increases in consumer prices? Will Japanese firms still be able to secure the employees they need, or will talent/position mismatches start to become more common? Ok, that’s more than one question…

940,000 people quit their jobs in June, and 550,000 people lost their jobs.

Japan’s unemplyment rate falls to 9 year low

I suppose it’s time for some good news. This morning, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced that Japan’s unemployment rate had dropped to 3.8 percent in April, its lowest level since March 1998. Most analysts had predicted that the unemployment rate would land somewhere around 4.0 percent.

The unemployment rate among male workers in the 15-24 age bracket was at 8.0 percent, and was the highest of any age group, though it was down 1.7 percent from last month.

So, the question remains: will the tighter job market lead to wage increases? The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare also announced that for every job seeker, there were 1.05 positions available in April (more on that report in a separate post). We’re wondering if this isn’t a temporary upswing as companies fill out positions emptied by retiring baby boomers…

Japan’s household spending up 1.3% in February; unemployment unchanged

On Friday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced that February household spending in Japan increased by 1.3% compared to February 2006, reaching an average 272,763 yen per household. The increase was greater than estimated by most observers, this one included. We projected a 0.2% increase in February household spending, while Bloomberg’s survey of 29 economists predicted a 0.6% rise.

A quick breakdown of some key numbers:

• Overall household income rose 2.3% year-on-year, up for the fifth straight month
• The income of household heads increased 2.2%, rising for the eighth straight month
• Disposable income was up 2.8% from February 2006

In a separate report on employment, the Ministry also announced:

The number of employed persons in February 2007 was 63.02 million, an increase of 300 thousand or 0.5% from the previous year…The number of unemployed persons was 2.70 million, a decrease of 70 thousand or 2.5% from the previous year. The unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, was 4.0%.

That represents the fourth straight month with the unemployment rate at that level.

Copyright © 2006-2010 Japan Economy News

Privacy Policy | Disclaimer