Japan’s unemployment rate in October unexpectedly rose as employers cut payrolls the most since May, indicating a weakening in the job market as the expiry of stimulus programs weighs on domestic demand. The jobless rate climbed to 5.1 percent from 5 percent in September, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo. The median forecast of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was 5 percent. A report yesterday indicated that consumers are cutting back on purchases after the end of stimulus measures including government subsidies for energy-efficient vehicles. Slumping auto output and slowing exports suggest the economic outlook is weak, according to economist Yonosuke Iwata. “The recovery has been slow,” said Iwata, an economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “Over time, we’re likely to see a spillover of the decline in production, resulting in an adjustment in employment” in the manufacturing sector, he said. The economy lost 180,000 jobs in October from a month earlier, seasonally adjusted figures show. Retail sales slid for the first time this year as spending on cars slumped 24.1 percent from a year earlier, the biggest drop since comparable data became available in 1980. In one encouraging sign for hiring, there were 93 newly advertised jobs in October for every 100 people who started looking for work that month, the most since 2008, the Labor Ministry said in a separate report today. Economists consider it a leading indicator for employment. The job-to-applicant ratio climbed to 0.56, meaning there were 56 job openings for every 100 candidates. To contact the reporter on this story: Aki Ito in Tokyo at aito16@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net

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