Japan’s unemployment rate stayed at a record high level in December, but a rise in the number of job openings suggested that better times may be ahead, according to official figures released Tuesday.
The jobless rate was steady at 3.4 percent for the second straight month, the highest level since the government started collecting data using its present methods in 1953. The average rate for the year was 3.2 percent, also a record, up from 2.9 percent in 1994.
In Japan, anyone who worked an hour or more in the last week of a month is counted as fully employed.
“The employment situation continues to be severe. Unemployment among young people continues to rise as firms cut back on hiring,” said an official of the Management and Coordination Agency, which released the figures.
Unemployment levels in the 15 to 24 age group jumped to 6.1 percent from 5.4 percent, the largest rise ever in that group.
But other data gave grounds for hope that the problem could be peaking, as the country’s long-stagnant economy begins to show tentative signs of life.
Government data showed that the diffusion index of leading economic indicators, a gauge of economic performance in the coming six months, stood at 60 in November, above the “boom or bust” 50 mark for the second month in a row.
Japan’s jobless rate is still relatively low compared with other major industrial nations.
