Japan Unemployment Rate: Updated Jan. 13

Article Source:   https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20211228/p2g/00m/0bu/014000c

Ideas:

An increase in the unemployment rate normally is not a good thing, but if people are looking to change jobs, and quit their present job it might indicate that there are a lot of jobs available and people are not afraid to quit their present job, with the anticipation of quickly finding another or new job.

That, in-itself, might be a good sign for the Japanese economy that people are not afraid to leave their present jobs and with the anticipation of finding a new job quickly.

It also might mean there are now a lot of jobs available or waiting to be filled. But unfortunately, as this writing is a little late the omicron virus has hit Japan, now like the delta variant and it might be a challenge for some looking for a new job.

There could be several reasons for people voluntarily leaving their jobs. It could be personal reasons, it could be they just don't like their job, it could be something else. But if 760,000 left their jobs that seems like a lot of people moving about. 

But lets take the Japanese cultural stereotype that some of them might be young women who are getting married, or some who have children and need or want to raise their children etc.

But that of course is not all of those who left voluntarily. But most likely jobs conditions in Japan have improved enough and that the job market is more competitive meaning offering better work/life balance or better benefits and even a better salary.

That would be good for the Japanese economy which often as being stereotyped as too rigid and or too many work hours and not enough salary increases.

But as more young people enter the workforce they don't want the same work style as their parents and as such companies need to respond and change if they want to get the workforce they need for their company.

So if 760,000 left their jobs looking for new work it might means companies are changing to meet the needs of the 21st century worker.

Pansonic, for example, just said they are going to introduce the 4 day work week to those who want it. That is an example of a Japanese traditional company who sees the writing on the wall know they need to change to meet the needs of the 21st century worker, instead of just business as usual for a traditional Japanese company.

Unfortunately the omicron virus situation has now reached over 10,000 cases in Japan and as such it might dent the optimistic view of some looking for a new job.

Once again, and still, the virus situation is most likely going to cause problems in the service industry. Whether tourism, retail, logistics, airlines, hotels and so on as people/customers/consumers begin to refrain from going to those places out of fear of the virus situation.

Hopefully its not going to dent the hiring of new workers or those workers who quit their jobs and are looking for a better or different job.

And then there is the possibility again of new emergency measures. But maybe Kishida recognizes that the Japanese economy can't go through any more slowdowns or shutdowns and will try to just keep as much of the economy open as over 80 percent of the Japanese population has been vaccinated and booster jobs in coming soon if not now.

The labor market, agreed, might have been on a recovery trend, but as the omicron virus situation has now exploded in Japan, hiring might have to take a puase for the time being until what is going to happen with the virus situation can be determined.

Hotels and restaurants might have to pause their hiring for a few months until the virus situation is clear about what is going to happen.There seems to be some ideas floating that the omicron might not be as dangerous but no one needs or wants to take a chance at this point, which means of course that hotel reservations are not going to increase and restaurants might not have as many customers as expected.

As was seen on Dec. 29, Wednesday, a picture of Tokyo station, eki, showed a lot of people moving and getting on the shinkansen for their New Year trips. And of course its unfortunate that maybe the number of people who move around Japan during that time might have helped the virus spread.

Most likely the "Go To Travel" program is not going to start as expected as the virus situation is getting worse each day and each week.Most likely it might not start again until the spring of early summer now.

Yes, agreed again, there might have been improvement in the labor market as the virus situation in Japan had looked to be leveling off with not that many cases.

But today it is much different. As there were over 10,000 cases, the most in over 4 months, which is definitely going to affect the services sector again. 

So now Kishida and others have to decide what are they going to do. Are they going to implement more emergency measures like last summer or they going to try and ride out the new virus situation like in the UK, which said no new emergency measures.

Or they can do like what South Korea started to do on Monday. They said for all department stores, big supermarkets, and restaurants, all those who enter must show an app on their smartphones that show they have been vaccinated and or a negative test. And paper documents are also accepted.

But it might be too cumbersome or even too much of a disruption to normal business activities in Tokyo, Yokohama, and Osaka to name a few large cities.

The next few days might be important as to what Kishida and others decide to do.

Have a nice day and be safe!