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January 31, 2025JAPAN LABOUR FORCE SURVEY, DECEMBER AND ANNUAL 2024 
Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined to 2.4% in December 2024. Compared with the previous month, Japan's labour force and emploment both grew by 0.2%.
Japan's unemployment rate has been stable since 2022, with slow growth in both labour force and employment in recent months. In contrast, Canada and Nova Scotia have experienced faster growth in both labour force and employment, but also with a rising trend in unemployment rates since 2022. Nova Scotia's unemployment rate has been more volatile.
ANNUAL
Japan's annual average unemployment rate declined from 2.6% in 2023 to 2.5% in 2024. The unemployment rate increased in Canada and Nova Scotia in 2024.
The aging of Japan's population weighed on labour force and employment growth from the late 1990s to the early 2010s. Employment and labour force growth has remained relatively flat since the start of the pandemic and started growing since 2023. Labour force and employment grew 0.5% in Japan in 2024.
Nova Scotia's labour force and employment also contracted from 2012 to 2015 (coinciding with declining population). Since then, Nova Scotia's labour force and employment have resumed their growth, and employment growth has outpaced labour force growth for the last three years.
Canada's labour force and employment growth have been more rapid than those in Japan or Nova Scotia over recent decades. Only periods of recession interrupted Canada's otherwise steady employment and labour force growth over this period.
Sources: Statistics Bureau of Japan. Table: a-1 (Seasonally adjusted) Major items (Labour force, Employed person, Employee, Unemployed person, Not in labour force, Unemployment rate (since Jan.1953); Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0287-01 Labour force characteristics, monthly, seasonally adjusted and trend-cycle
Annual: Statistics Bureau of Japan. Table: 2-1 Population aged 15 years old and over by labour force status (Labour force, Employed person, Unemployed person, Not in labour force, Labour force participation rate, Employment rate, Unemployment rate, etc.); Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0327-01 Labour force characteristics by sex and detailed age group, annual
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