Japan's unemployment rate fell to 2.9% in June, reflecting a pickup in hiring at restaurants and retailers hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic as a state of emergency was lifted in some areas, government data showed Friday.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate dropped from 3.0% for May, improving for the first time since March, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said.
The job availability ratio improved to 1.13 from 1.09 a month earlier, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said. The latest figure of 1.13 means that there were 113 openings for every 100 job-seekers.