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Japan's jobless rate up to 4.3%; prices, manufacturing fall

22 Comments
By ELAINE KURTENBACH

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The under 35 employment rate is the best depiction of what is really going on in the economy. The over 35s have their life commitment to their respective companies. This clearly shows that companies are not hiring freshmen as much as they used to. It also puts a lot more pressure on the families of the young and unemployed. However, on the other side of the coin, after working in high schools for the last decade or so and seeing all the deadbeats graduating I am not surprised they are unemployed. I wouldn't give half of them a job.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Abenomics is working already!!!!!!

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

DisillusionedMar. 29, 2013 - 11:12AM JST

...after working in high schools for the last decade or so and seeing all the deadbeats graduating I am not surprised they are unemployed. I wouldn't give half of them a job.

...and you're their teacher?????

Personally, I think companies need to find new ways of motivating the 'younger generation' to start working and stay working. The days of whipping them in shape during the day, and taking them out for drinks at night are over.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

6% unemployment for the under 35 age group?

IMO, that's pretty good compared to the rest of the OCED countries. What is the USA? 15%?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Abenomics is working already!!!!!!

yes, worse than NK's rocket launch !

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

UpgrayeddMar. 29, 2013 - 11:38AM JST

6% unemployment for the under 35 age group? IMO, that's pretty good compared to the rest of the OCED countries. What is the USA? 15%?

Unemployment is far far higher than 6% for the under 35's. Only those people claiming unemployment benefit are classed as unemployed and since you can't claim unemployment benefit, if you haven't paid 3 years contributions, that basically excludes most Japanese under 23 years of age being included in those figures.

Add to this that even 1 hour of paid work classifies you as working and 60% of workers under 35 are part time workers, with no benefits and a very low base salary that is not beefed up with any bonus.

The situation for Japanese under 35 is very similar to that of Spain and Italy. The only difference is that the parents of the Japanese are richer than the parents of the Italians or Spanish, thanks to the economic booming 60's, 70's and 80's.

7 ( +10 / -3 )

Spain, Italy, and Japan all measure unemployment in basically the same way based on ILO standards.

So distortions in the rate would show up in all three countries.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

underscoring the fragility of the recovery of the world’s third-largest economy

What recovery? Having the governor of the BOJ say it don't make it so.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

UpgrayeddMar. 29, 2013 - 12:30PM JST

Spain, Italy, and Japan all measure unemployment in basically the same way based on ILO standards. So distortions in the rate would show up in all three countries.

Japan only has contributory unemployment benefits, while Spain and Italy have both contributary and non-contributary unemployment benefits, 'Subsidio de desempleo' in Spanish.

Therefore, in Japan, if you aren't eligable for benefits, because you haven't paid the 3 years contribution or you've used your benefits, you don't bother registering as unemployed with Hello Work

In Spain you can get benefits for working a mere 360 days in the last 6 years and when you've exhausted your contributory benefits, you can still get means tested non-contributary benefits, therefore you continue to register with SEPE.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Japan measures unemployment through a direct survey of Japanese households. While I'm sure they collect statistical information from Hello Work, it isn't the unemployment rate.

Please let me know if I'm missing anything here.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

.

Only those people claiming unemployment benefit are classed as unemployed and since you can't claim unemployment benefit, if you haven't paid 3 years contributions,

The numbers are calculated differently BUT please be VERY careful passing along 3rd party or worse information, you do not have to contribute for 3 years before you can collect unemployment benefits, you have to pay in continuously for a 12 month period to collect.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Within the labor force, there are currently 62.62 million people employed in Japan right now and 2.85 million people who are considered unemployed.

Outside of the labor force, there are an additional 580,000 people who are willing to work and can start working immediately.

If you add those people to the labor force the unemployment rate jumps from 4.3% to 5.1%.

Something tells me Japan is doing better than Spain.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

UpgrayeddMar. 29, 2013 - 01:35PM JST

Japan measures unemployment through a direct survey of Japanese households. While I'm sure they collect statistical information from Hello Work, it isn't the unemployment rate.

Gosh you're right. So Japan's calculation of unemployment has no objective statistical merit. Very different from Spain and Italy. However I know loads of young Japanese who have never ventured into an unemployment office and live off their parent's stripends, something really no longer possible in Spain or Italy and probably only a generation away from not being possible in Japan anymore.

'In Japan, the labor-force survey is carried out by sampling 40,000 households nationwide and includes some 100,000 people. This sampling method, however, can be problematical when international comparisons are attempted. ..... the United Kingdom, Germany, and France use data retrieved from job centers and unemployment offices.' http://www.nira.or.jp/past/publ/review/96winter/kishi.html

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Tahoochi - ..and you're their teacher?????

Nah, not the teacher! Just the token gaijin in the classroom watching the failure of the school system.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Back on topic please.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

You need to double whatever rate the toss out & get a better picture of reality

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The government data released Friday showed the main consumer price index fell 0.3% from a year earlier as deflation continued to defy the combined efforts of the government and central bank to move toward a 2% inflation target. However the CPI was up 0.1% from January’s figure.

Yet another example of statistics massaged to show what the government wants people to hear. Why am I not surprised?

The CPI has falled 0.3% in the past year, but since the election of Abe and the full-on assault on the general public's savings accounts, the CPI has risen 0.1% in just a single month, which is an annualized figure of 1.2% Price inflation of 1.2% per year is most of the way to the government's "goal", and will erase four years of the preceding deflation in just a single year.

Deflation hasn't "continued to defy" anything. Deflation ended almost as soon as these thieves took power and inflation has already begun. By using old statistics to pretend that things haven't changed, they can devalue the currency even further and get even more of the deflation they desire.

Do not be fooled, people of Japan. Inflation will not solve the unemployment problem and will not make anyone happier -- except for the government fat cats who are the ones issuing the money.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The situation for Japanese under 35 is very similar to that of Spain and Italy. The only difference is that the parents of the Japanese are richer than the parents of the Italians or Spanish, thanks to the economic booming 60's, 70's and 80's.

For a fact the households of Italy are worth more than Germany (over a factor of 2). ECB Household Finance and Consumption Survey (sent out 2010). I would say Italy/Spain have it easier because the parents still own the land of their family -people that could not get jobs went back to farming or a family business.

http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/3/8/a-politically-explosive-secret-italians-are-over-twice-as-we.html

Young people are have a hard time getting jobs, and when they get a job they are mostly poor quality (dead-end, no benefits/bonus etc) --> almost a World-Wide condition and Japan wants to join it with a free-trade agreement that will make the condition worse.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Why are you acting like deflation is a good thing?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Upgrayedd,

7.7% (Feb 2013) United States of America, Unemployment rate

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Economics #101

BOJ cannot create jobs. Fiscal policy can.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Why are you acting like deflation is a good thing?

Assuming you're a worker who is paid wages, it's a lot better than inflation.

Pure long-term price stability is the ideal, but increasing productivity should naturally generate small declines in prices every year. The government is attempting to arrogate all this productivity to itself by making sure that the general public never sees the benefit of lower prices.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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