TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s jobless rate fell to 2.4% in January, while the availability of jobs fell for the first time in nearly 2-1/2 years, government data showed on Friday.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was lower than economists’ median forecast of 2.5% in a Reuters poll.
The jobs-to-applicants ratio fell to 1.35 from December’s 1.36, marking the first decline since August 2020, labour ministry data showed.
For a table on the jobless data, go to the internal affairs ministry’s website:
(Note: The jobs-to-applicants ratio and new job offers can be seen in Japanese on the labour ministry’s website)
(Reporting by Kentaro Sugiyama and Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)
