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Japan's jobless rate remains at record high 4.9 percent |
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News |
April 29, 2000 TOKYO, APR 28 (UNB/AP) - Japan's unemployment rate in March stayed at a record high 4.9 percent, but joblessness among men grew to its highest level, the Management and Coordination Agency announced Friday.
The overall figure was better than the 5.0 percent economists had forecast, but the rise in the rate for men to 5.2 percent from February's 5.1 percent underscored the severity of the job situation.
The total number of jobless rose 100,000 from a year ago to a record high 3.49 million, the agency said.
Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa expressed concern, and said the government must consider new job expansion measures.
"I have repeated that the job situation is not in good shape. We had better compile new steps," he said.
Unemployment also touched 4.9 percent in June and July last year.
On the positive side, the Labor Ministry said in a separate survey that labor demand improved slightly in March, with 53 jobs offered to every hundred people seeking work compared to 52 in February.
The new job offers ratio rose to 0.97 from 0.93, showing that there were 97 new jobs available for every 100 people seeking work.
The world's second-largest economy is struggling to emerge from its deepest slump in decades, forcing companies to trim payrolls and give up the custom of guaranteeing employees a job for life.
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