Whoever succeeds Shinzo Abe as Japan's prime minister will be confronted with growing signs that the job market is deteriorating in an economy laid low by the coronavirus pandemic.
Japan's unemployment rate crept up to 2.9per cent in July and job availability fell to a more than six-year low, data showed on Tuesday. Nearly 2 million people lost their jobs in July, about 410,000 more than in the same month last year, with the number of job losses rising for six straight months through July.
Government subsidies and Japan's unique labour practice, prioritising job security over wage hikes, have kept the jobless rate low compared with around 10per cent in the United States. Analysts say conditions have already taken a sharp turn for the worse as companies face pressure to slash labour costs.