Japan Unemployment:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210302/p2g/00m/0bu/040000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's unemployment rate fell to 2.9 percent in January and job availability improved despite the economic fallout from a fresh state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Tuesday.

The jobless rate dropped from 3.0 percent for November and December, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. The December figure was revised up from an earlier reported 2.9 percent.

The job availability ratio rose to 1.10 in January from 1.05 a month earlier, meaning that there were 110 openings for every 100 job seekers, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

Ideas:

Japan has always seemed to have a lower unemployment rate than other countries.

And they seem to have a higher job availability rate than other countries.

But the low unemployment rate doesn't tell the whole picture as it is estimated that maybe as much as 30% of all jobs are either temporary or part-time.

So the idea of Japan still being a life time job country has long passed.

Of course the life time job idea has always been mostly for the large companies and not exactly for small and medium sized companies.

Article:

Japan declared its second state of emergency over the pandemic in early January in the Tokyo metropolitan area and expanded it later, asking dining establishments to close early and people to refrain from unnecessary outings. The outbreak has led to a growing number of bankruptcies.

"We can't deny that the impact of the pandemic was felt but concerns that the state of emergency would worsen (the jobless rate) did not materialize," an official of the internal affairs ministry said.

Ideas:

There are/were many businesses such as restaurants that have not survived and or are just barely surviving.

And perhaps there might be even be some people who have decided not to claim unemployment benefits and or are waiting to do so.

Especially if you were let go from a part-time or temporary job.

As to why the new state of emergency didn't worsen the jobless rate is questionable as best.

Article:

The unemployment rate for men was flat at 3.2 percent while that for women was down 0.2 percentage point to 2.6 percent.

Some 2.03 million people were without job in January, down 70,000 from the previous month. The country had 66.94 million people on payrolls, up 110,000, the ministry said.

Bearing the brunt of the pandemic, the services sector including hotels and restaurants shed jobs. The medical and welfare sector added workers.

Ideas:

Again the numbers might not add up as in many economies there are always those who have been out of work and no longer register as to looking for work, meaning they are no longer considered unemployed and not part of the unemployed group.

This is especially true of those who have been out of work for a long time.

It may take some time for the services sector to recover from the pandemic and it might take even more time for the hotel industry to recover as it was heavily dependent not only on domestic tourists but maybe even more on international tourists, who don't look to be allowed to come back to Japan any time soon.

Have a nice day and be safe out there!