Japan's jobless rate up again

TOKYO, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Japan’s September jobless rate edged up to 4 percent, the second straight monthly rise, largely due to more women seeking jobs, the government said Tuesday.

The jobless rate was up 0.2 percent from 3.8 percent in August and was higher than the market projection of 3.8 percent, Kyodo reported.

The government, responding to the September increase, lowered its employment assessment for the first time in 31 months.

“Although basically the employment situation is improving, a weakness has been seen in the improvement trends recently,'' an official with the Ministry of Internal Affairs said in the Kyodo report. In August the ministry had said the overall employment situation was improving.

Another government report said the ratio of job offers to job seekers in September stood at 1.05, meaning there were 105 jobs available for every 100 job seekers. That was down from the August ratio of 1.06.

Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Hiroko Ota said she wasn't worried about the weakness because production was picking up.

Economist Takehiro Sato at Morgan Stanley Japan told Kyodo the jobless rate deterioration isn't likely to continue since the labor market for big companies remains tight in an improving economy.