Japan unemployment rate falls to 2.4% in September

Japan's unemployment rate fell to 2.4% in September, a 0.1 percentage point decrease from the previous month, according to data released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. This marks the first improvement in two months. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 100,000 from the previous month to 1.67 million. By gender, the unemployment rate for men was 2.5% and for women was 2.2%.

Separately, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported that the active job openings-to-applicants ratio rose to 1.19 in September, up 0.01 points from the previous month. This is the first increase in three months. The rise was partly driven by a 1.4% decrease in the number of active job seekers. Officials suggested that inclement weather, including typhoons and heavy rain, may have reduced the number of people visiting Hello Work employment offices.