Japan’s unemployment rate hits lowest level in nearly 2 years, economic outlook remains fragile

Shadows of pedestrians are pictured on a street in Tokyo, Japan, November 27, 2014. REUTERS/Issei Kato

TOKYO, April 26 (Reuters) – Japan’s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 2.6% in March, hitting the lowest rate since April 2020, although the number of furloughed workers remained high due to effects of the pandemic, official data revealed on Tuesday.

The world’s third-largest economy is struggling to secure a safe recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, with war in Ukraine adding to growing risks.

The data, however, showed some resilience in the labor market. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate was lower than the median forecast of 2.7% in a Reuters poll of economists, which was also the reading in February.

Compared to the previous month, the number of workers increased by 180,000 while that of the unemployed fell by 90,000 in March, the data showed, after adjusting for seasonality.

“The drop in the unemployment rate indicates signs of recovery” in the labor market, a government official told a press briefing.

“But the impact of the pandemic appears to be lingering and requires special attention,” he added, referring to the number of furloughed workers which remained as high as 2.43 million in March, mostly in the construction sectors. face-to-face services.

The job-to-applicant ratio was 1.22 in March, Labor Department data showed, in line with a Reuters poll forecast and up 0.01 points from 1.21 the previous month.

Reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Kentaro Sugiyama; Editing by Christian Schmollinger & Shri Navaratnam

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