An employee walks by a factory at the Keihin industrial zone in Kawasaki, Japan on Feb 28. (Reuters photo)TOKYO - Job availability improved in Japan in March to a level last seen more than 26 years ago, government data showed on Friday, with companies hunting for workers in a tight labour market. Separate data showed that the ratio of job offers to job seekers stood at 1.45 in March, the highest since November 1990 during the time of Japan's asset-inflated bubble economy. A tight labor market tends to lead to increased wages, but economists have said Japan still faces the challenges of creating what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has described as a "virtuous" cycle of robust wage growth and consumption. Japan had 64.96 million workers, up 0.2%.

Source: Bangkok Post April 28, 2017 03:56 UTC