Japan's Sept jobless rate edges up from near three-decade low

These numbers should not be taken at face value. The people who are unemployed and not looking for work are not counted for one thing, and the "jobs" information is related to full-time positions and not the literally thousands of pt and hourly one's that are available.

Japan’s aging and declining population has led to a tight labor market. But wage increases remain weak and companies are wary of passing on more of their profits to employees due to uncertainty over the economic outlook.

Read between the lines of the above paragraph. Yes, the jobless rate is low, but the amount of people who have good jobs with high salaries and job security is even lower. Over 60% of employees are on semi-permanent or part-time contracts with minimum rates of pay. My Mrs has a full time job. Her salary ¥250,000 per month, which is the minimum salary for a full time worker. However, her salary includes up to 40 hours a month overtime. That’s a week’s work for free for the company. It’s downright criminal where I come from. And, like the other 60% of the workforce, she is grateful just to have a job at all and dare not say anything fir fear of being fired.