Japan’s jobless rate rose to its highest in over a year in August, signaling a slight loosening of the labor market as speculation swirls over a Bank of Japan rate hike in the near term.
The unemployment rate rose to 2.6% in August from 2.3% in the previous month, the internal affairs ministry reported Friday, against a median economist expectation of 2.4%. Separate data from the labor ministry showed that the job-to-applicant ratio ticked down to 1.20 from 1.22. While that still means there were 120 job openings for every 100 job seekers, that was the lowest number of job openings since 2022.
"The strong labor market might be starting to lose some steam,” said Senior Economist Masato Koike at Sompo Institute Plus. "(U.S. President Donald) Trump's tariffs are leading to fewer job openings, especially for part-time roles, and now even full-time positions are being affected.”
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