General Employment Referrals, July 2026

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare compiles data on job openings, job seekers, and employment through Public Employment Security Offices (Hello Work) and publishes monthly figures, including job openings-to-applicants ratios, as the General Employment Referrals. The July 2026 release shows trends in the ratios, changes in job openings, and conditions by industry and prefecture.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, active job openings fell 0.1% month over month, while active job seekers rose 0.6%. In the unadjusted figures, new job openings were down 0.8% year over year. By industry, openings rose 6.8% in manufacturing, 5.6% in services not elsewhere classified, and 1.3% in medical and welfare services. They fell 10.7% in accommodation and food services, 7.3% in wholesale and retail trade, and 6.5% in living-related and personal services and amusement services.

Monthly figures are seasonally adjusted. Figures through December 2025 were revised using new seasonal indices when the January 2026 figures were released. The active ratio for regular employees is calculated by dividing the monthly active openings for regular employees by monthly active applicants among regular workers, excluding part-time workers. Because this applicant count also includes people seeking temporary agency or contract work, the resulting ratio is lower than a strictly defined ratio for regular employees. Industry classifications follow the Japan Standard Industrial Classification, revised in July 2023. From September 2021 onward, the figures include online job seeker registrations and placements resulting from direct applications to online job listings, among other items.