2018.08.3019:39:00UTC+00Japan Jobless Rate Rises To 2.5% In July

The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent in July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday.

That exceeded expectations for 2.4 percent, which would have been unchanged from the June reading.

The job-to-applicant ration was 1.63, in line with forecasts and up from 1.62 in the previous month.

The number of employed persons in July was 66.60 million, an increase of 970,000 or 1.5 percent on year. The number of unemployed persons in July was 1.72 million, a decrease of 190,000 or 9.9% on year.

The participation rate was 61.5 percent.