Japan's unemployment rate stood at 2.9 percent in May, the highest in three years, with nearly 2 million people out of work, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said On June 30. Data released the same day by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare showed that Japan's Labour market continued to shrink in May and employment deteriorated.


The unemployment rate rose for the third month in a row and was 0.3 percentage points higher in May than in April, according to the internal Affairs ministry. The number of unemployed rose 330,000 from a year earlier to 1.98 million.


The ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare released on May 30 that the effective recruiting rate for May was 1.2, which was the lowest level since July 2015. Effective employment multiplier refers to the ratio of the number of people in demand to the number of job seekers in the labor market.

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Japan's effective recruiting rate in May was 0.12 percent lower than in April, the biggest drop in 46 years. In May, the effective recruiting rate of 47 prefectures in Japan decreased month-on-month, among which Okinawa prefecture was the lowest at 0.78.


The number of new jobs created in May fell 32.1 percent from a year earlier, including 55.9 percent in the hospitality industry and 44.2 percent in services and entertainment.


The latest figures show the unemployment rate for men was 3.2 per cent in May and 2.5 per cent for women.


The state of emergency was fully lifted in late May and travel restrictions between Prefectures were fully lifted on 19 June. The number of newly confirmed coVID-19 cases in The capital Tokyo has increased, with more than 50 new confirmed cases up to 30 days in a row. The Japanese government is wary of redeclaring a state of emergency, Kyodo reported.