Japan Jobless Rate to Hit 5 Percent

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Japan Jobless Rate to Hit 5 Percent

Source: Associated Press Publication date: 2001-08-23

Japan's monthly unemployment rate is expected to have reached 5 percent in July for the first time, published reports said Thursday. The global slowdown in demand for information technology, which has increased pressure on companies to retrench, is behind the expected rise from the record 4.9 percent level in May and June, the nationally circulated Asahi newspaper and other Japanese media said.

Officials at the Ministry of Public Management said they could not comment until the July unemployment figures are released on Tuesday.

Japan's unemployment rate has never reached 5 percent since the government began compiling jobless statistics in 1953.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said that kind of pain is part of his remedy for curing Japan's economic ills, which have continued for more than a decade.

"A rise in the jobless rate is inevitable, given the reforms," he told reporters from the resort outside of Tokyo where he is vacationing. "We'll be taking measures to create jobs."

In June, the number of unemployed rose for the third straight month, reaching 3.38 million.

The global slowdown in demand for information technology has choked Japanese exports, causing manufacturers to slash production and pare overtime hours.

Rising bankruptcies and weakness in the construction industry, a mainstay of the economy, have also kept unemployment high.

The jobless rate for men in June remained at an all-time high of 5.1 percent, while the unemployment rate for women stayed at 4.6 percent.

The Asahi report said that for July both rates are set to inch higher by 0.1 point. Also, the number of unemployed will likely hit around 3.30 million, the highest ever for July, the report said.

http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=23063523&ID=cnniw&scategory=Economy%2FMarkets&

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 23, 2001


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