TOKYO - Japan's jobless rate fell in August and the availability of jobs improved slightly, indicating
companies are cautiously increasing payrolls.

Following is a table of Japan's jobs data with economists' median forecasts in parentheses:

AUG JULY JUNE AUG 2009
(Seasonally adjusted)
Unemployment rate 5.1 (5.2) 5.2 5.3 5.4 pct
Jobs-to-applicants ratio 0.54 (0.54) 0.53 0.52 0.42
----------------------------------------------------------------
(Unadjusted)
Number of unemployed (mln) 3.37 3.31 3.44 3.61
Number of employed (mln) 62.78 62.71 62.80 62.96

(including self-employed)
Number of salaried (mln) 54.63 54.47 54.47 54.65
Job participation rate 56.8 56.8 56.8 57.0

(y/y, pct)
Number of new job offers +19.0 +9.3 +12.8 -24.2

A full table can be seen on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications at:here

(Note: The jobs-to-applicants ratio and new job offers can be seen only in Japanese on the labour ministry's website.) (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

Unemployment Japan