The Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications runs the survey every month. Around 40,000 sampled households report the work status of about 100,000 members aged 15 and over during the last week of the month. The basic tabulation, published around the end of the following month, gives employment, unemployment and labour force participation. The detailed tabulation, based on a subsample of about 10,000 households and published quarterly and annually, adds employment type, reasons for non-regular work, job changers and those who want work but are not looking.
The headline numbers are steady. Unemployment averaged 2.5% in 2025, and the seasonally adjusted rate was again 2.5% in August 2026. The detailed tabulation for 2025 found 21.28 million non-regular employees, 36.5% of all employees excluding executives.
The survey is household-based, so it counts people. That distinguishes it from the jobs-to-applicants ratio, which comes from Hello Work administrative data and counts vacancies and applicants registered at public employment offices. The two are usually read together.
What it means for a foreign employer
- A low unemployment rate is the context, not the story. Japan's unemployment rate has stayed in the mid-2% range in recent years. For senior hiring the constraint is the small number of people with the right skills willing to move.
- Use the detailed tabulation for structure. Its figures on non-regular work, women's participation and older workers explain where the available labour supply is, and where it is not.
- Do not use it for salaries. It does not cover pay in any detail. For wages, use the Basic Survey on Wage Structure.
- Quote the official source in business cases. When you present Japan workforce plans to headquarters, the survey is the accepted reference for labour market tightness and demographics.
Sources
- Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Labour Force Survey: basic tabulation for August 2026 (published 2 October 2026); 2025 annual averages for the basic and detailed tabulations.