Japan’s labor market tightened in September, indicating sustained pressure on companies to raise wages ahead of the Bank of Japan’s policy meeting this week.
The job-to-applicant ratio edged up to 1.24 from 1.23 in August, meaning that there were 124 jobs offered for every 100 applicants, the labor ministry reported Tuesday. Economists had forecast no change from 1.23.
A separate report from the internal affairs ministry showed that the jobless rate decreased to 2.4% in September, falling to its lowest level since January. The number of workers rose by 270,000 from a year ago, while those without jobs decreased by 90,000.
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