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Japan's jobless rate at lowest in nearly 25 years

31 Comments
By Behrouz Mehri

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31 Comments
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Excellent news! Japan's economy is doing amazing recently, growing well even with a declining population. Salaries are also rising well for skilled workers so good news all round

-7 ( +10 / -17 )

I am yet to see any salary increases. The decrease in unemployment matches the increade in low-paying jobs.

7 ( +12 / -5 )

The spin machine is in overdrive.

How is economic growth possible when 30 percent makes less than 3million yen in income.

I am unable to buy vegetables. Fruits. Fish and a whole lot of items.

Gasoline is ove 140yen per litre coupled with the high toll has resulted in a reduction in car usage.

8 ( +15 / -7 )

Old dudes working with glow-sticks to direct people and traffic are included in these numbers. It's a farce.

8 ( +15 / -7 )

Less people less workers, an incress of taxes, to pay the excessive sealers of the elite. Yep all good.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Of COURSE unemployment is down, because there are not enough people to fill all the vacancies at companies; it's certainly not on behalf of any action taken by the government, save maybe making it harder for people to immigrate to here.

-3 ( +7 / -10 )

Well, the economy is doing so well that my company fired all 150+ of its western staff, effective March 31st. Jobless figures are going to be including me this time next month. Thanks for your inspired leadership, Abe. What would we do without you? Be able to provide for our families, perhaps?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Japan's jobless rate at lowest in nearly 25 years

But what kind of jobs?

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Indeed, these articles are pointless unless they describe what kind of new jobs people are working, and on what level of pay. By saying jobs are up alone, a rosy picture is painted, but what if that increase in jobs is accounted for mainly by miserable minimum wage slog jobs? That said, a job is a job, and I still think having one, even if it’s shitty, is better than not having one at all.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

2.4 %! UNBELIEVABLE! Well done Mr Abe and Mr Aso. Japan is the envy of the world when it comes to creating jobs. Haters gonna hate, but full credit to Abe-San and Aso-San, who have crafted policy to create jobs and growth through labor reform, infrastructure spending and quantitative easing policy. But a word of caution: Just because there are boom economic times and jobs growth, does not mean Japan needs to import labor. Japan can and will manage herself.Look at results in EU after importing foreign labor.

With Olympics 2020 coming up fast, I expect the jobless rate to drop to between 0.5 and 1 percent, which will be a world record in OECD! SO happy at todays news!!

-6 ( +5 / -11 )

Low wages, companies not following basic employment regulations and basically making them wage slaves, regulations making very difficult for any company to have innovative work styles that let people have a better work-life-balance......

But the unemployment rate is so low, it doesn't matter :D

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Salaries are also rising well for skilled workers so good news all round

Just to unwrap you from the flag for a minute... the majority of even skilled workers are not enjoying higher salaries. If they are, it's the exception.

Fudged numbers are never good news all round, they are just fudged numbers.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Thanks for your inspired leadership, Abe.

I'm curious why you're blaming the Prime Minister and not your employer -- the one who decided to fire you and your colleagues.

Abe can't force companies to retain workers. Those decisions are made in company boardrooms.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

If you were to apply productivity metrics in all those zombie companies and Ministry of Nothing, you would quickly find out that 20% of employees can be easily let go with absolutely no impact to the operations. Go to any city hall and see how many people are sitting there doing almost nothing, let alone be productive.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

Maybe they stopped counting the long term Unemployed ?

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Japan's jobless rate at lowest in nearly 25 years

Should read, "Japan's jobless rate for low paid 100% pure Japanese young men in black suits at lowest in nearly 25 years. For everyone else it remains bleak".

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

I,m sure you realize 0.5 % jobless rate is statistically pretty much unachievable if you know economics.

Nonsense.Japan in 1980s had full employment. Andorra has full employment. I know economic models, and I know unemployment in Japan WILL continue to fall. 0.5 percent unemployment is actually conservative estimation, it will be lower if economy continues boom.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

The spin machine is in overdrive. How is economic growth possible when 30 percent makes less than 3million yen in income.

Indeed; the media should be ecstatic that Japan is finally seeing growth and high employment ifgures without rising consumer prices.

Unfortunately, Abe and Kuroda only care about one thing: inflation. They want prices to go up, devaluing people's savings but (more importantly, for them) devaluing all the debt that they and their government have run up. This article can't even get through a few paragraphs of good news before flipping over to KCB propaganda about how the devaluation of our money is somehow good. It's not good for us.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

my company fired all 150+ of its western staff

Sounds like you are included in that 150+, so in the short term, commiserations to you...

But getting fired is a blessing in the long term. You will be better off long term working for a successful company that needs what you offer.

What I am curious about is why this is 150 westerners getting fired. The westerners getting fired first?

Could be, I guess.

Any company that does that has no future anyway, so it’s still positive in the long run.

But suing their racist butts off is an interesting proposition, if that is the case.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

fxgai:

What I am curious about is why this is 150 westerners getting fired. The westerners getting fired first?

It could well be a department dealing with foreign customers/suppliers (and therefore mostly staffed with foreigners) that was closed. Not that they went through the company and plucked out all the foreigners. There may have been some Japanese workers, but they could have been transferred to other departments rather than just let go.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Absolute nonsense....if you know economic models as you claim you will know there are variations in the way countries calculate their unemployment rates and there will always be people in the working age population bracket who are unwilling / unable to secure employment even with J populatuon shrinking at ever increasing pace .Japan will not get to 0.5 % only in your fantasies..even full employment in an economy like Japan will still have more than 0.5% rate. ..you can play with the statistical measurements whichever way you like but then you,d probably believe figures such as the official rate of Cambodia being 0.3% or Belarus at 0.5% . In that case i have some nice real estate to sell you and your right wing friends.

Exactly! 100% correct marcelito!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

It could well be a department dealing with foreign customers/suppliers (and therefore mostly staffed with foreigners)

Actually a lot of Japanese people are capable of communicating in English. I know many such people.

There may have been some Japanese workers, but they could have been transferred to other departments rather than just let go.

Well exactly. Why fire the foreigners? They can be transferred like the locals? What law confines that?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Actually a lot of Japanese people are capable of communicating in English. I know many such people.

Yep. Many of them end up working meaningless jobs somewhere that do not require English (kombini, for example). Japan under-utilizes these people because they usually went overseas for a few years and somehow became worth less, or 'less-Japanese' or something...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Gramie - my company is a Business English provider. I have worked there since 2000.

They suddenly decided to focus entirely on translation from April this year. The official explanation is "as the population is shrinking, maybe in ten years we would not be able to compete with other schools". So, rather than try to compete - by hiring a sales team, for instance - they are closing down my department and firing all the western instructors and staff.

The Japanese staff, some of whom were hired six weeks prior to the closure, will all be found other jobs within the company.

The western staff, some of whom have been working there for nearly 20 years, were told we are out the door from the end of this month.

The fact that April 1st - 24 hours after we are all unemployed - is the date when Abe's much-praised Five-Year Rule comes into effect is, we are expected to believe, entirely coincidental.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The company's decision has ruined me. I will lose my home, and will not be able to send my daughter to university. So you will excuse me if I don't start doing cartwheels with joy at the tremendous success of Abe's impact on the jobs front.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Hello Derek, you're not alone in that situation. First off you do need to go to the Job center immediately otherwise you will loose benefit payments. You could also seek the advice of a Lawyer as to whether your dismissal was valid and if the payout you received was justified.... that's assuming you haven't signed anything (even then, it may still worth be doing so).

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Payout? What payout? They have refused to even honour the term limit of my contract, which takes me well into summer.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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