Japan’s jobless rate falls to 2.5% in April – government

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s jobless rate fell to 2.5% in April, while the availability of jobs increased, government data showed on Tuesday.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was lower than the 2.6% reported for March, which was also the median forecast for April in a Reuters poll of economists.

The jobs-to-applicants ratio was 1.23 in April, labour ministry data showed, in line with a Reuters poll forecast and rising 0.01 point from the previous month’s 1.22.

For a table on the data, go to the internal affairs ministry’s website: http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/roudou/index.htm

(Note: The jobs-to-applicants ratio and new job offers can be seen in Japanese on the labour ministry’s website)

(Reporting by Kentaro Sugiyama; Writing by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)