A couple of previews of the Japan employment report, which includes the unemployment rate
Data due at 2330 GMT:
Jobless Rate for January
- expected 2.8%, prior was 2.8%
Job-To-Applicant Ratio for January
- expected is 1.60, prior was 1.59
Two quickies, bolding mine:
Barclays:
- We estimate that the unemployment rate remained at 2.8% in January, while the jobs/applicants ratio edged up to 1.60.
- Employment indicators continue to improve due to both cyclical factors (prolonged economic expansion) and structural factors (labor shortage rooted in demographics).
Nomura:
- We forecast an unemployment rate of 2.7% for January, down 0.1pp m-o-m
- and a job openings-to-applicants ratio of 1.61, up 0.02 points m-o-m.
- he job openings-to-applicants ratio, which tends to lead the unemployment rate, has been rising amid tight labour supply-demand conditions, and we therefore think the unemployment rate will have fallen versus the previous month too.
- Looking at leading indicators of the job openings-to-applicants ratio, the new job openings-to-applicants ratio rose month-on-month in December and the Indexes of Business Conditions (the leading composite index) maintained the level of the previous month, which had registered sharp growth.
