Job availability rose to its highest level in 44 years in 2017, the central government said Tuesday, the latest sign that labor is in increasingly short supply as Japan enjoys a phase of modest economic growth.
The jobs-to-applicants ratio improved to 1.50 in 2017, the highest since 1973 when it hit an all-time high of 1.76. This means that 150 positions were available for every 100 job seekers.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell for the seventh straight year to 2.8 percent, the lowest since 1993, government data showed.