Japan Unemployment Rate

Japan’s unemployment rate dropped to 2.3% in July 2025, below market expectations of 2.5% and down from the same level in the previous four months. It was the lowest jobless rate since December 2019, as the number of unemployed fell by 80 thousand to 1.64 million in July, the lowest since January 2020. At the same time, employment edged down 10 thousand to a three-month low of 68.31 million, while the labor force shrank by 110 thousand to 69.93 million. Meanwhile, the number of people outside the labor force rose by 150 thousand to 39.72 million. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the labor force participation rate increased to 63.9%, up from 63.5% a year earlier. Meanwhile, the jobs-to-applicants ratio held steady at 1.22 for the second straight month, remaining at its lowest since March 2022.