TOKYO: Japan’s unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 2.6 percent in May from the previous month after seasonal adjustment, the first rise in four months, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.

More people quit their jobs to find better ones as COVID-19 infections have subsided, ministry officials said.

The number of unemployed people increased by 40,000 to 1.8 million. Of them, the number of people who left their jobs voluntarily grew by 60,000. The number of people with jobs fell by 140,000 to 67.24 million.

Before seasonal adjustment, the number of people who had jobs but did not work declined by 500,000 from a year before to 1.64 million, the lowest since the pandemic began in 2020.

The labor ministry separately said that the ratio of job openings to job seekers in May rose 0.01 point from the previous month to 1.24 after seasonal adjustment, increasing for the fifth successive month.

The number of effective job seekers rose 1.1 percent to 2.08 million, while that of effective job openings expanded at a faster pace, growing 1.9 percent 2.4 million.

The hotel and restaurant sector saw its unadjusted number of new job offers surge 54.3 percent from a year before as operators in local areas increased offers in anticipation of the arrival of more foreign tourists.

JIJI Press