Japan's Jobless Rate: Updated Feb. 11, 2024.

 

Japan's jobless rate falls to 2.5% in October

Article Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20231201/p2g/00m/0bu/018000c

Ideas:
Japan's unemployment rate has always been one of the lowest among advanced economies. An increase from 2.5 to 2.6 is not much of a change or variation. 

Perhaps more people might have given up looking for work, which is not unusual even in Japan as people lose hope trying to find a good job. 

And at the same time, maybe more people found work that suited them and the number changed.

For might be 130 jobs for every 100 job seekers, but what kind of jobs are being offered. Unfortunately, even in Japan, the trend is more contract work and more part-time work and not as many regular full time jobs.

The services sector was hit hard by the pandemic and maybe just now beginning to get back to some kind of normal or new normal.

Manufacturing and construction, while good paying jobs, might not be the type of jobs many young workers are looking for these days, as they look for jobs that meet their work/life expectations.

And at the same time, as material costs increase, maybe they can't hire any more workers at this time.

Japan is definitely facing a major labor shortage at this time, But Japan is not using is human resources to its fullest, as working women are not given the same salaries as men, and women with children might be looked down on and maybe are not considered management candidates.

Also Japan is beginning to see the need and importance of foreign workers but also they are still reluctant to fully open their economy for foreign workers.

The services sector lost a lot of jobs during the pandemic, and many workers to lost their jobs have moved on and haven't returned to the same service sector jobs.

But many service sector jobs, such as hotels, might not be the preference of young Japanese workers as maybe the hours are long and the pay is not as good as other jobs.

Among the 770.00 people who voluntarily left their jobs, did they leave their jobs for personal reasons, or maybe they just didn't like the work they were doing.

An economy's workforce is never static but dynamic meaning its always changing, as people leave, people are dismissed, people retire and so on.

Again, the trend in Japan and many advanced economies, is many companies are hiring more contract workers and part-time workers as opposed to full time workers, of course to save money and save spending less on benefits

And at the same time, many young workers today, in every advanced economy, are looking for better work/life situations and not the hours, especially in Japan, that their parents had to work, which was/is six days a week and longer hours each day. 

Some companies are waking up to this fact, and to get the best talent possible are now beginning to offer better work/life situations with better working hours, better benefits and ever better chances for promotion to management.

The unemployment numbers as stated really don't mean much as 2.5 or 2.6 is not that big a difference. For women, as they enter the workforce, the numbers can change as now they are counted in the workforce as before, they were not counted in the workforce,

The inflation situation, is forcing more women to seek employment as now a one income family just can't make it.

Again the services sector was it hard by the pandemic and probably lost more jobs than other sectors, and now they are trying to makeup for the lost workers.

At the same time, as more foreign tourists enter Japan the accommodation sector is looking for more workers. 

But the problem, again, is maybe many young Japanese workers don't want to work at hotels and the hours might be long, and the pay might be less than what large Japanese companies pay.

When I would stay at Toyoko Inn in Yokohama, I would often see Chinese workers at the hotels, as there are many Chinese tourists and maybe the hotel can't find Japanese workers to work there.

Also, when I would to to a convenience store in Japan, I would see mostly foreign students working there and not young Japanese working there. Also, the few times I would go to MacDonald's in the morning, the workers there were older Japanese and not young Japanese as they maybe don't like the work and or the hours.

Have a nice day and be safe!