The seasonally adjusted job-to-seeker ratio stood at 1.20 in September, flat from the previous month, the labor ministry said Friday.
The number of effective job seekers fell by 0.8% and that of effective job openings by 0.7%. The job availability ratio is obtained from dividing the number of effective job openings by that of effective job applicants at the Hello Work public job placement centers across the country.
Job hunting and recruitment both may have become less active in the reporting month ahead of minimum wage hikes beginning in October, people familiar with the matter said, adding that some companies curbed hiring due to earnings drops amid rising prices.
The same day, the internal affairs ministry said the country's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in September stood unchanged at 2.6%.
People with jobs increased, but those who newly became job hunters in the month helped prevent the unemployment rate from falling.
Meanwhile, the number of employed women rose 450,000 from a year earlier before adjustment to a record high of 31.53 million, according to the ministry.
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