Japan Sept. Jobless Rate: Updated Nov. 3, 2025.

Japan's Sept. jobless rate unchanged at 2.6% from August

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251031/p2g/00m/0na/008000c

Ideas

The Japanese economy has been a very staple economy for many decades and its unemployment rate has been extremely low, although no economy will ever have zero unemployment as there is always going to some people transitioning in and out of the economy,

Even there were 120 job openings for every 100 job seekers, its quite possible that some of the jobs might not be the best jobs available, such many small and mid-size companies are looking for worker as Japan in a supposed labor shortage and some companies can't find workers but at the same time can't pay the wages that workers want or need.

The labor market might not be bad but at the same time it might not be good too, as again, there are some companies looking for workers but they also can't afford to pay the wages or hourly rate that workers want due to continued increases in raw material costs, energy costs, and then wage increases that have taken place the last two years in Japan with many companies.

And yes, because of the continued inflation in Japan since the pandemic, more women are entering the workplace as they need to help pay for their family costs, as maybe a one-income wage or salary just doesn't make it in Japan anymore, if it ever really did.

There appears to be a definite labor shortage in Japan now as some companies just can't find workers and some companies are even beginning to file for bankruptcy and or go out of business because they can't find workers and or can't afford to pay what workers want or need.

Wages over the past two years have increased and even the minimum wage in Japan has finally begun to increase which is a good thing for those who work part-time and even for those who work for small companies that can't afford to pay more than the minimum wage.

The problem with the minimum wage, as everywhere, companies will begin to resist the wage increase by not hiring workers, reducing the hours of workers, and or laying off workers but their profits margins just can't handle the increase in the minimum wage.

Again, there are always going to be people/workers who are moving or out of the economy for a number of reasons such as they are between jobs, they were laid off, they quit because they didn't like their job and have begun to look for a new job and so on.

Higher prices or more importantly the continued increase in higher prices cause a central bank such as the Bank of Japan to increase the key rate as as strategy to get people to buy less, to get companies to borrow less, which forces companies to lower their prices over a period of time.

But the BOJ is in a difficult situation now as it has to think about the inflation situation and has to think about how US tariffs are going to effect the Japanese economy and they have to decide which is the most important of the two, inflation or tariffs.

Have a nice day!