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Japan's Jobless Rate to Hit Record 5.0% in July
Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment is certain to hit 5.0% in an official report for July due out next week, reaching its highest level since the government began reporting monthly jobless figures in 1953, government sources said Thursday.
The government has repeatedly said it sees the 5.0% level as the threshold for taking drastic employment measures, including safety nets for the unemployed through such means as a supplementary budget for the current 2001 fiscal year.
The sources said the jobless rates for both men and women in July also likely worsened by about 0.1 percentage point to hit all-time highs, while the number of people out of work is expected to reach a record of about 3.3 million for the month of July.
The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications is set to post the figures when it releases the July report next Tuesday, they said.
In the June report released last month, the jobless rate stood at 4.9%, matching the record level for the fourth time after May, January and December of last year.
The June jobless rates were also flat for both men and women at a record 5.1% for men and 4.6% for women.
Given the June data, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi has said the government ''needs to take measures with financial resources should unemployment top 5.0% and stay there for two to three months.''
Another government official said the 5.0% level ''is one of the bad thresholds that calls for implementing job measures'' through an extra budget.
Many economists said job conditions could deteriorate further in the short run through increased bankruptcies if Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi presses commercial banks to accelerate disposal of their bad loans under his economic reform program.
The jobless rate currently stands at 4.5% in the United States, 3.2% in Britain and 3.7% in South Korea.The rate is 9.2% in Germany and 8.8% in France.
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