Japan Jobless Rate Steady at 2.6%, Slightly Above Consensus

2025-10-30 23:47 By Farida Husna 1 min. read

Japan’s unemployment rate held at 2.6% in September 2025, unchanged from the prior month but slightly above market expectations of 2.5%.

It remained the highest since July 2024, as the number of unemployed increased by 20,000 to a 14-month high of 1.81 million.

Meanwhile, employment rose by 240,000 to a record 68.40 million, while the labor force expanded by 250,000 to 70.14 million.

The number of people outside the labor force fell by 240,000 to 39.46 million.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the labor force participation rate climbed to 64.2%, up from 63.5% a year earlier.

At the same time, the jobs-to-applicants ratio stayed at 1.20 for the second straight month, remaining the lowest level since January 2022.



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