Japan January jobless rate at 2.5%, job availability widens

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s jobless rate in January rose to 2.5%, from 2.4% in December, government data showed on Tuesday.

Economists’ median forecast was for 2.4%.

The jobs-to-applicants ratio edged up to 1.26 in January from 1.25 in December. The median forecast was 1.25.

(Reporting by Kentaro Sugiyama, Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)