Japan's unemployment rate stood at 2.5% in April, unchanged from the previous month, in a sign that labor market conditions remained tight amid a modest economic recovery, the Nikkei, Japanese largest business newspaper, said, citing the government.
The jobless rate is near the lowest level in 25 years. The unemployment rate fell to 2.4% in January, the lowest since 1993. Job availability was also unchanged from March at 1.59. Analysts had projected the rise to 1.60. Japan had 66.93 million workers in April. The number of unemployed people decreased by 0.6% to 1.72 million.
In the first quarter, Japan's GDP fell by 0.6% compared with the same period in 2017 amid a fall in investment. Earlier, the country’s economy expanded for eight consecutive quarters. Economists expect the recovery to resume in the current quarter, as global trade and Japanese exports are picking up again.
