The number of unemployed people in Japan shot up 28.6 percent in August compared with the previous year to reach 2.97 million -- the highest recorded figure ever, the Management and Coordination Agency said Friday.The recession caused the nation's August unemployment rate, which set record lows for both men and women, to match the postwar high of 4.3 percent that was set in June, the agency said in another gloomy report that bodes ill for the economy. The jobless rate in July was 4.1 percent.The seasonally adjusted jobless rate is the highest calculated under current methods first undertaken in 1953, the agency said. Unemployment for men reached 4.4 percent, topping previous records set in May and June, while the rate for women hit 4.3 percent, eclipsing record marks recorded in June and July.According to a separate report released by the Labor Ministry, there were statistically only 50 job offers for every 100 people in need of work in August, unchanged from July.The number of jobholders was calculated at 65.46 million people. Male jobholders dropped 1 percent for an eighth consecutive decline, and female jobholders dipped 0.2 percent for the third month in a row. The jobless figures indicate that the ranks of those being forced to quit or leave work voluntarily are expanding.By industry, construction employment fell 5.9 percent and manufacturing employment dropped 3.3 percent. But employment in the services and retail-wholesale restaurants sectors rose more than 2 percent in each.
