— Japan July Jobless Rate 4.3%; June 4.3%; MNI Forecast 4.3%
— Japan July Employment -90,000 Y/Y Vs June -60,000
— Japan July Employment Posts 8th Straight Y/Y Drop

TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s average unemployment rate stood at 4.3% in
July, unchanged from June as job cuts eased and more people entered the
labor market looking for work, while payrolls continued to slump from
year-earlier levels, data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and
Communications showed Friday.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July came in line
with the median forecast for 4.3% in a survey of economists by MNI.

The 4.3% unemployment rate in July and June was the lowest since
4.2% recorded in September 2011.

In July, the number of payroll jobs fell by 30,000 from the
previous month to a seasonally adjusted 62.69 million, marking the first
month-on-month drop in two months, following +270,000 in June.

The adjusted number of unemployed rose by 10,000 (+0.4%) to 2.82
million in July, compared with -80,000 (-2.8%) at 2.81 million in June.

Looking at the longer-term trend, the unadjusted number of employed
people fell 90,000 on year to 62.27 million in July, posting the eighth
straight year-on-year drop. The pace of decline accelerated from -60,000
in June.

The workforces fell in wholesale and retail trade and transport and
postal services as well as farming, offsetting large gains in medical,
health care and welfare.

Meanwhile, the unadjusted number of jobless workers fell 240,000 on
year to 2.88 million in July, after falling 260,000 in June. It was a
26th consecutive drop.

The data also showed that the number of those who lost their jobs
continued to fall from year-earlier levels in July while the number of
people who quit their jobs voluntarily to look for other openings fell
for the second straight month.

Effective with September 2011 data, the government resumed
releasing the national average unemployment rate based on figures from
all the 47 prefectures, including earthquake-hit areas that were
previously excluded from the data.

The government compiled employment and unemployment data from March
to August 2011 without records from the Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima
prefectures, the hardest hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that
wrecked the northeastern Pacific coast.

tokyo@mni-news.com
** MNI Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-6860-4822 **

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