— Japan Nov Jobless Rate MNI Survey Median Forecast: 4.5%
— Japan Nov Employment +80,000 Y/Y Vs Oct -220,000
— Japan Nov Employment Posts 1st Y/Y Rise In 5 Months

TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s national average unemployment rate stood at
4.5% in November, unchanged from October, although the number of
employed slightly increased from the previous month, data from the
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed Wednesday.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November came in line
with the median forecast of 4.5% in a survey of economists by Market
News International.

The November jobless rate was still lower than pre-disaster levels
of 4.6% in February and 4.9% in January.

Effective with September 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.

In November, the number of payroll jobs increased 30,000 (0.0%)
from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted 62.49 million.

The adjusted number of unemployed rose by 40,000, or 1.4%, to 2.96
million in November, vs. +250,000 or 9.4% to 2.92 million in October.

Looking at the longer-term trend, the unadjusted number of employed
people fell by 80,000 to 62.60 million in November from a year earlier,
posting the first year-on-year rise in 5 months after falling 220,000 in
October.

The unadjusted number of jobless workers fell 380,000 on year to
2.80 million in November, after falling 460,000 in October.

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
November while the number of people who quit their job voluntarily to
look for other openings also dropped.

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

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