-- Japan's national unemployment rate rose to 2.7% in March, edging up from 2.6% in February, and perhaps indicating the first negative ripples of higher oil prices and lagging global trade in the wake of the Persian Gulf war.
The number of unemployed in Japan increased by a seasonally adjusted 10,000 in March from February, to 1.86 million.
The number of employed declined by 120,000 in March from February, to an 11-month low of 68.15 million, while the labor force shrank by 100,000 to a seven-month low of 70.02 million.
In recent years, due to an aging population, Japan's potential labor force has been decreasing, as more former workers pass into retirement age but are not replaced by younger labor-force entrants.
In general, many businesses describe Japan as experiencing "labor shortages."
The nation's labor force participation rate, that is, the percent of working-age adults either employed or seeking employment, edged up to 63.6% in March from 63.5% in February and was slightly higher than the 63.3% registered a year earlier.
Separately, in March, there were a seasonally adjusted 118 jobs open for every 100 job hunters, down modestly from 119 in February, reported the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.