Employment statistics continue to improve. In April, the jobless rate hit 3.3 percent — the lowest in 18 years, while the ratio of employment offers to job seekers reached a 23-year high of 1.17, with the figure topping 1 — a condition where there are enough job openings to accommodate everyone looking for work — for the 18th month in a row. While the Abe administration is keen on taking credit for the improved job outlook, labor demand is forecast to remain tight for the foreseeable future due to the rapid aging and decline of the nation's population.

What will be needed are efforts to translate the better job figures into a higher quality of jobs on offer, such as in status and conditions.

After hitting 5.5 percent in July 2009 amid the global recession in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse in September 2008, the jobless rate in Japan has been hovering below 4 percent since fall 2013, mirroring an upward trend in the economy.

There are views that the nation's labor market is close to full employment, a macroeconomic condition where there is no joblessness except for people who have just quit their jobs and are seeking new ones as well as unemployment attributed to a mismatch of labor needs and workers' qualifications and skills.

The government and the Bank of Japan often attribute the improved employment data to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies and the massive monetary easing by the central bank.

True, the yen's steep fall against the dollar under "Abenomics" led to a surge in profits for export-oriented firms, and the aggressive public works spending by the administration boosted work for the construction industry. The number of people who quit their jobs in April due to reasons on the part of their employers was the lowest since 2002 — which explains companies' brisk demand for labor.

But it also needs to be noted that behind the brisk demand is the underlying labor shortage — where companies are increasingly finding it tough to secure the manpower they need as the supply of workers shrinks amid the aging and declining population.

The number of people aged 20 to 59 — who constitute the primary portion of the workforce — fell by nearly 7 million to about 61.6 million in the decade to 2014. The working-age population — those aged 15 to 64 — which peaked in the mid-1990s, fell below 80 million in 2013 for the first time in 32 years. The ratio of working-age people in the total population, which stood at 62.1 percent in 2013, is projected to plunge to 50.9 percent in 2060 if the current demographic trend continues.

The government is pushing for greater participation of women and the elderly in the labor market, but it is questionable if such efforts can overcome the demographic challenge. The manpower shortage — which has already become serious in certain sectors years — appears set to be the underlying trend in coming years irrespective of the ups and downs of the economy.

What remains to be seen is whether the tight labor demand will improve not just job availability but job quality.

When he dissolved the Lower House for a snap election last December, Abe touted that his economic policies created 1 million jobs in the first two years of his administration. But that increase came mainly in irregular positions such as part-time and temporary jobs, while the number of regular full-time positions declined on a net basis.

The April statistics showed that the number of workers in both regular and irregular positions increased. But while the number of regular full-time employees rose by 60,000 from a year earlier to 32.94 million, the ranks of workers in irregular positions increased by 300,000 to 19.39 million. The ratio of regular full-time jobs on offer to people seeking such positions was 0.72, the highest since relevant figures became available in November 2004 but still far short of the overall figure of 1.17 — showing that demand is still heavily slanted toward irregular workers.

Since the 1990s, Japanese firms have substantially cut back on full-time employment and relied increasingly on irregular workers to cut manpower costs. Today, irregular workers, who are typically paid much less than their full-time counterparts, account for nearly 40 percent of the employed workforce.

The government and business sectors should pay more attention to the impact that the growing ranks of people with unstable, low-paying jobs have on the purchasing power of households.

The number of working poor — defined as people who earn less than ¥2 million annually — hit 11.2 million in 2013, an increase of 300,000 from the previous year and accounting for 24 percent of wage earners not including seasonal workers.

The improvement in job statistics has not been matched by an increase in consumer spending, which has also been hit by the consumption tax hike in April 2014 and rising prices. The average salary of workers continued to decline on a net basis for 23 months in a row as prices rose faster than their wages — until it rose 0.1 percent in April from a year earlier. Household spending has fallen for 13 consecutive months since the consumption tax hike.

For two years in a row, the administration applied unusual pressure on the business sector to increase wages — along with the sweetener of corporate tax cuts — to shore up consumer spending. Major firms posting record profits offered the sharpest raise in years, but the average increase in the monthly pay scale, aside from seniority-based raises, was just slightly above ¥2,000 among unions affiliated with the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo). The average hike was only around ¥1,500 a month among companies with less than 300 employees. It's questionable if these raises were robust enough to boost household spending as a whole, especially as the recent additional fall in the yen's value threatens to jack up import prices further.

A panel at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will soon begin discussions on updating the minimum wage law. Last year, the minimum hourly wage on a nationwide average was hiked ¥16 to ¥780, but in several prefectures the monthly wage based on that level was barely above the amount of livelihood assistance provided to people on welfare. Efforts to improve the quality of employment should include the drive to further increase minimum wages.