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April 30, 2018JAPAN LABOUR FORCE SURVEY, MARCH 2018 
Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was steady at 2.5 per cent in March. Japan's unemployment rate remains at lows not seen since the 1990s.
Although Japan's unemployment rate remains stable, there are remarkable changes in the size of labour force and employment in the last three months. After reaching a trough at the end of 2012, Japan's labour force has been rising slowly from 2013-2017. A slightly faster pace of employment growth over this period eroded the unemployment rate.
The start of 2018 has constituted a substantial shift in labour market conditions for Japan. In March, Japan's labour force increased by 0.8 per cent while employment increased by 0.7 per cent.
In the last three months, Japan's labour force has increased by 1.1 per cent (comparing Q1 to Q4 in seasonally adjusted averages). This is the fastest pace of labour force growth since 1973.
Japan's employment increased by 1.4 per cent from 2017Q4 to 2018Q1 - this is the fastest pace of quarterly growth since 1957.
Canada and Nova Scotia typically report higher rates of unemployment than Japan, but all exhibit a strong long run relationship between the size of the labour force and employment. However, Canada's declining unemployment rate reflects much faster employment and labour force growth than has been reported in either Japan or Nova Scotia.
Statistics Bureau of Japan, Statistics Canada CANSIM table 282-0087
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