— Japan Jan Jobless Rate 4.6%; Dec 4.5%; MNI Forecast 4.6%
— Japan Dec Jobless Rate Revised Down To 4.5% In Annual Revisions
— Japan Jan Employment -480,000 Y/Y Vs Dec -100,000
— Japan Jan Employment Posts 2nd Straight Y/Y Drop

TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s national average unemployment rate rose to
4.6% in January, up from a revised 4.5% (initially 4.6%) in December, as
the number of unemployed increased on the month and the number of
employed fell, data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and
Communications showed Friday.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January came in more
or less line with the median forecast for 4.6% in a survey of economists
by Market News International.

The December rate was revised down in annual revisions to the
Labour Force Survey.

The slight increase in the January employment rate was mainly
because more people entered the labor market, looking for openings, a
ministry official said.

In the face of uncertain economic growth prospects, job creation
has been slow in Japan, with the unemployment rate edging up from 4.2%
in September, 4.4% in October and 4.5% in November and December.

In January, the number of payroll jobs fell by 350,000 (-0.6%) from
the previous month to a seasonally adjusted 62.59 million, marking the
second straight year-on-year drop.

The adjusted number of unemployed rose by 90,000, or 3.0%, to 3.05
million in January, vs. +30,000 (+1.0%) to 2.99 million in December.

Looking at the longer-term trend, the unadjusted number of employed
people slumped 480,000 to 62.11 million in January from a year earlier,
hit by a continued slump in wholesale and retail sectors and
construction as well as manufacturing.

It posted the second consecutive year-on-year drop after falling
100,000 in December.

Meanwhile, the unadjusted number of jobless workers fell 190,000 on
year to 2.91 million in January, after falling 240,000 in December.

The ministry excluded data from earthquake-hit areas of Iwate,
Miyagi and Fukushima in compiling the annual data.

The data also showed that the number of those who lost their jobs
and were looking for work continued to fall from year-earlier levels in
January while the number of people who quit their job voluntarily to
look for other openings also dropped.

Effective with September 2011 data, the government resumed
releasing the national average unemployment rate based on figures from
all the 47 prefectures, including earthquake-hit areas that were
previously excluded from the data.

The government compiled employment and unemployment data from March
to August without records from the Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima
prefectures, the hardest hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that
wrecked the northeastern Pacific coast.

tokyo@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4833 **

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