Japan's jobless rate hits record 5.7% in July

• Source: Xinhua
• [09:44 August 28 2009]
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Japan's jobless rate went up by 0.3 percentage points to hit a record 5.7 percent in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to official statistics released Friday.

The number of the unemployed expanded for nine months in a row, up by 1.03 million to 3.59 million from a year earlier, said the ministry of internal affairs and communications said in a preliminary report.

The jobless rate for men rose 0.4 percentage point to 6.1 percent on a month-on-month basis, compared with a 0.1 point rise to 5.1 percent for women.

Observers said that the ever-increasing jobless rate is likely to deal a further blow to Prime Minister Taro Aso's already embattled government ahead of Sunday's general election.

Also on Friday, data released by the labor ministry showed that the ratio of job offers to job seekers stood at 42 to 100 job in July, down from 43 to 100 in June.

Separate statistics released by the health, labor and welfare ministry indicated that the number of job offers fell 0.5 percent from June while that of job seekers rose 1.8 percent.