Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in July fell 0.2 percentage points from the previous month to 2.3%, marking the first improvement in five months and the lowest reading since December 2019, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.
The number of jobless people decreased 4.7% to 1.64 million as more people found new jobs after leaving their previous positions for better opportunities. The number of people with jobs fell by 10,000 to 68.31 million.
The labor ministry said the seasonally adjusted ratio of effective job openings to job seekers in July was flat from the previous month at 1.22.
The ratio represents the number of jobs available to each job seeker registered with Hello Work public job placement centers across the country.
The number of effective job seekers fell 0.03% and that of effective job openings declined 0.2%.
More elderly people have been seeking jobs to cover higher living expenses, but this had no major impact on job availability.
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