TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's job availability logged its first drop in five months in February amid the government's second state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Tuesday.
The job-to-applicant ratio worsened to 1.09 from 1.10 in January, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, meaning there were 109 job openings for every 100 job seekers. But it was still higher than 1.05 marked in December.
Separate data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed the February jobless rate stood at 2.9 percent, unchanged from the previous month.
Ideas:
A job applicant ratio of 109 to 100 jobs would be very welcome in many parts of the world.
That means, potentially, there might be a lot of jobs for job seekers to choose from.
But the big question is what kind of jobs are being offered? Are they jobs with good benefits and good salaries or are they jobs such as contract or temporary type jobs.
And the 2.9 percent jobless rate really doesn't tell the full story. However, the jobless rate never tells the full story in any country.
How many people have given up searching or looking for a job?
Article:
In response to a third wave of virus infections that began in November, Japan declared its second state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic in early January in the Tokyo metropolitan area and expanded it to other regions later, asking dining establishments to close early and people to refrain from unnecessary outings.
The measure was lifted in stages but in place for the Tokyo metropolitan area until March 21.
"The impact of the state of emergency on the jobless rate was not as significant as that of the first one declared last spring," a government official told reporters.
Ideas:
The groups that seem to really be affected are the restaurants and place similar. As far as people refraining from unnecessary outings, from what I been told from those in Japan, except for working at home for some, things seem normal or feel normal.
Maybe are not going to restaurants as much in the night and or not going to similar places at night but what my observers say, things appear somewhat normal.
The jobless rate again doesn't really the the whole story about what is happening, as there are many who have given up looking for a job.
Article:
The government's first state of emergency, effective nationwide from April to May last year with more comprehensive requests for nonessential businesses to suspend operations and for people to stay home, triggered a sharp deterioration of employment conditions as well as the country's worst recession on record.
The seasonally adjusted number of unemployed was 2.03 million, unchanged from January. Among them, 710,000 people voluntarily left their jobs, down 30,000, while 660,000 were laid off, up 30,000, and 560,000 were new job seekers, up 10,000.
The number of people in work rose 30,000 from the previous month to 66.97 million, up for the second consecutive month.
Ideas:
The idea of 710,000 voluntarily leaving their jobs seems questionable. Maybe if they were offered incentives to leave then that would be a reasonable explanation.
Especially in the hard hit services or tourism industries.
While the 660,000 who were laid of does seem explainable again in the services and tourism industries hit the hardest.
Japan has always been, or so it seems, a country where new job seekers such as high school and college graduate are/were able to find a job of their choosing. But maybe the pandemic has closed that door, at least for now.
Article:
Meanwhile, the number of unemployed people increased 350,000 to 1.94 million in February from a year earlier, up for the 13th straight month, suggesting the pandemic has continued to affect the labor market. The figure is unadjusted for seasonal factors.
By sector, the number of workers in the accommodation and food service industry dropped 460,000 from a year earlier to 3.59 million, bearing the brunt of the virus emergency. In contrast, those in education, plus the medical and welfare sector grew 250,000 to 3.55 million and 240,000 to 8.84 million, respectively.
The number of furloughed employees increased 320,000 from the previous year to 2.28 million in February, slower than a rise of 500,000 in January.
Ideas:
The pandemic may continue to affect the labor market for the rest of 2021. The Japanese economy might not get back to some kind of "new normal" until 2022, when most people have been vaccinated and the domestic and international tourism industry gets back to something resembling the pre-pandemic level.
Its easy to understand the increase in medical workers during the pandemic, but the education sector is puzzling is how they were able to add that many jobs.
As more and more business are trying to hang on maybe some of them have finally given in and began to furlough or even lay off workers to survive.
Article:
"In addition to the government's continuous support, efforts by firms, such as dispatching furloughed workers to sectors in need instead of laying them off, are likely to have prevented further deterioration of the employment situation," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at the Norinchukin Research Institute.
But Minami said he does not expect the jobless rate to improve markedly in the near future, saying restaurants and bars in some areas are still being asked to cut their operating hours even after the virus emergency has been lifted, although the requested closing time was extended by one hour to 9 p.m.
Ideas:
The idea that Japanese companies have moved their workers around to help those sectors in need is a quality that other countries should think about doing.
But at the same time, maybe its unique to Japan and not exactly easy to do in other economies.
The later Peter Drucker, the management consultant, always said that workers should be a resource and not considered a cost to be laid or fired, meaning the worker is a companies most important resource.
He also said Japan, more than any other country has taken that to heart.
Have a nice day and be safe!
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