— Japan Feb Jobs -250,000 M/M (-0.4%) Vs Jan +540,000
— Japan Feb Unemployed -70,000 M/M (-2.1%) Vs Jan -160,000
— Japan Feb Jobs -800,000 Y/Y Vs Jan -790,000, 25th Y/Y Drop In Row
— Japan Feb Unemployed +250,000 Y/Y Vs Jan +460,000, 16th Rise In Row
— Japan Feb Job Offers-To-Seekers Ratio 0.47 Vs Jan 0.46

TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s unemployment rate stood at 4.9% in February,
unchanged from January, as a month-on-month drop in seasonally adjusted
job creation was offset by a decline in the number of unemployed, data
from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed Tuesday.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February matched the
consensus call.

The jobless rate was below the record high of 5.6% hit in July last
year, but was still higher than 4.2% seen at the start of 2009.

In February, the number of the unemployed fell by a seasonally
adjusted 70,000, or 2.1%, from the previous month to 3.21 million, with
the pace of decline decelerating from -160,000 m/m in January.

But the number of payroll jobs fell by a seasonally adjusted
250,000, or 0.4% month-on-month, to 62.78 million, after rising by
540,000 m/m in January.

Job losses also continued when compared with year-earlier levels.

The number of employed people posted the 25th straight year-on-year
drop in February, down by 800,000 (-1.3%) y/y to 61.85 million. The pace
of decline was little changed from the decline of 790,000 (-1.3%) to
62.13 million posted in January.

The number of jobless workers rose by 250,000, or 8.4%, from a year
earlier to 3.24 million in February, showing the 16th straight y/y rise.
However, the pace slowed from the rise of 460,000, or +16.6%, to 3.23
million in January.

Job losses remained large in manufacturing, but the pace of
decline slowed slightly compared to the previous month.

Meanwhile, job losses in construction, agriculture and forestry,
transport and postal services, and education, learning support increased
from the previous month.

By contrast, scientific research, professional and technical
services and medical, health care and welfare as well as hotels and
restaurants continued to lead job creation compared with a year before.

The Japanese economy has moved out of the sharp contraction seen
early last year, but the jobless rate is a lagging indicator that
typically follows economic movements after a delay of several months.

Other details of the report follow:

The number of those who lost their jobs and were looking for work:
February +160,000 y/y at 1.1 million vs. January +210,000 y/y at 1.03
million.

The number of people who quit their job voluntarily to look for
other openings: February +50,000 y/y at 1.01 million vs. January +30,000
y/y at 1.0 million, December -10,000 y/y at 970,000 and November +70,000
y/y at 1.01 million.

Separately, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said that the
ratio of job offers to job seekers at government placement offices stood
at a seasonally adjusted 0.47 in February, improving from 0.46 in
January, in light of more openings and fewer people registered as
seeking jobs.

But it still meant that there were only 47 job offers for every 100
people looking for work.

tokyo@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4833 **

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