TOKYO, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Japan's unemployment rate rose fractionally in July from a month earlier, the government said in a report on Friday.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the jobless rate in the recording month rose to 2.5 percent from 2.4 percent a month earlier, with the rate close to all-time lows since the 1990s and reflecting the severity of Japan's labor shortage.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said separately that the job availability ratio in July stood at 1.63, up from 1.62 in June, marking a 44-year high.
The figure translates to there being 163 available jobs for every 100 people seeking employment.
Japan's demographic crisis, referred to as a "ticking time bomb" by some economists and demographers, is becoming more and more visible in the increasingly severe employment sector as Japan's rapidly aging population is seeing declining numbers of viable workers.
