Japan's seasonally adjusted jobless rate in August was 5.4 percent, the same as in May, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Friday in a preliminary report.
Compared with July, the unemployment rate for men rose 0.2 percentage point to 5.7 percent while the rate for women fell 0.1 point to 5.1 percent.
Voluntary retirements contributed to the rise in the male jobless rate, particularly among those between 25 and 34; the fall in the female jobless rate resulted from increased work in elderly care and welfare services, said Masato Chino, an official at the ministry's Statistics Bureau.