The number of people whose jobs were directly affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear crisis exceeded 1.1 million in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures as of October, a government report says.

Of the total, 638,500 employees were forced to miss days at work and 81,400 had to quit their jobs, a preliminary survey compiled by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry indicated Friday.

Some 42.6 percent of residents employed in the three prefectures at the time of the March 2011 disasters were affected, the survey said.