Japan's unemployment rate edged down by 0.1 percentage points to 4.2 per cent in January, the government said Friday. The number of unemployed people decreased by 180,000 from a year earlier to 2.73 million, falling year-on-year for the 32nd consecutive month, dpa quoted the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications as saying. Medical and welfare services added 370,000 employees for a total of 7.46 million people, while manufacturers lost 320,000 positions to 10.19 million and wholesalers and retailers shed 140,000 jobs to employ 490,000, the ministry said. The proportion of temporary and part-time workers in the labour force hit a record high in 2012 of 35.2 per cent for the third consecutive year of increase, the ministry said in mid-February. Meanwhile, the availability of jobs, measured as a ratio of job offers per job seekers, climbed 0.02 points from the previous month to 0.85 in January, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said.
