Vice trade minister Osamu Watanabe brushed aside concerns Monday over the nation's record-high 4.9 percent unemployment rate logged last week, reassuring that the recession touched bottom in the first quarter of the year.
While recognizing the severe state of current employment, Watanabe stressed that an employment rate is a "slow-acting index" and follows the real state of economy later on.
"As the economy hit bottom during the January-March period (this year), we're closely watching how it will take off from there," Watanabe told a regular press conference.
Although the figure has a great political and psychological impact, Watanabe urged the nation to remain positive and the government to effectively implement the emergency employment measures that have passed the Diet and to draft a fiscal 2000 budget featuring a front-loaded spending plan.