Japan’s unemployment rate edged down to 2.4% in September 2026, beating market expectations and improving on August’s 2.5%. The number of unemployed declined by 100 thousand to 1.67 million, while employment rose by 340 thousand to a four-month high of 68.68 million. The labor force expanded by 250 thousand to 70.34 million, and the number of people outside the labor force fell by 200 thousand to a four-month low of 39.13 million.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the labor force participation rate inched up to 64.5%, compared with 64.2% in August and the same month a year earlier. Meanwhile, the jobs-to-applicants ratio increased to 1.19 from 1.18, where it had held for the previous three months, surpassing the consensus forecast of 1.18.
