Japan's unemployment rate worsened to 2.8% in April, increasing for the first time in six months, as hiring in the service sector softened under the government's third coronavirus state of emergency, government data showed Friday.
The jobless rate climbed from 2.6% marked in March, but it was lower than 2.9% registered in February, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
Separate data from the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry showed the job availability ratio in April worsened to 1.09 from 1.10 a month earlier, meaning that there were 109 job openings for every 100 job seekers. It improved 0.01 point in March.