Japan's Unemployment Rate Rises to 2.5% in August

Oct 02, 2026 | News On Japan

TOKYO - Japan's unemployment rate rose to 2.5% in August, up 0.1 percentage point from July, marking the first deterioration in five months, according to data released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The number of unemployed people increased by 6.0% from the previous month to 1.77 million, reflecting a rise in job seekers across several categories.

A breakdown by reason for seeking employment showed that the number of people who had left their jobs due to retirement, employer-related circumstances or other reasons increased by 20,000.

Those who had voluntarily left their jobs rose by 60,000, while the number of people newly entering the job market to seek employment increased by 10,000.

The figures indicate that voluntary job departures accounted for the largest increase among the categories, contributing to the overall rise in unemployment in August.

Source: テレ東BIZ

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