General Employment Referrals (September 2026)
Overview
In the general employment referrals report for September 2026 published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the active, new, and regular employee active job openings-to-applicants ratios all exceeded the previous month. Active job openings increased 0.0% month over month, while active job seekers decreased 1.4%. New job openings fell 0.4% year over year. The report also showed changes by industry and active job openings-to-applicants ratios by prefecture.
Key points
- The active, new, and regular employee active job openings-to-applicants ratios all exceeded the previous month.
- New job openings decreased 0.4% year over year.
- The prefectures with the highest and lowest active job openings-to-applicants ratios differed between workplace-based and accepted-application-location figures.
Overview
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare compiles data on job openings, job seekers, and placements at Public Employment Security Offices (Hello Work) and publishes indicators such as the job openings-to-applicants ratio monthly as the General Employment Referrals report. Monthly figures for September 2026 are seasonally adjusted; figures through December 2025 were revised using new seasonal indices when the January 2026 report was published.
Figures from September 2021 onward include people who registered as job seekers online without visiting Hello Work, as well as placements resulting from direct applications to jobs listed on the Hello Work Internet Service. The industry classification is based on the Japan Standard Industrial Classification, revised in July 2023.
Details
The active job openings-to-applicants ratio rose by 0.01 percentage points month over month, the new job openings-to-applicants ratio rose by 0.13 percentage points, and the regular employee active job openings-to-applicants ratio rose by 0.01 percentage points. Active job openings increased 0.0% month over month, while active job seekers decreased 1.4%. New job openings decreased 0.4% year over year.
By industry, new job openings increased 8.2% in manufacturing, 5.9% in information and communications, and 4.9% in services not elsewhere classified. They decreased 6.7% in lifestyle-related services and entertainment, and 6.3% each in wholesale and retail trade and accommodation and food services.
By prefecture, the workplace-based active job openings-to-applicants ratio was highest in Fukui and Yamanashi and lowest in Osaka. By application acceptance location, it was highest in Tokyo and lowest in Kanagawa. The regular employee active job openings-to-applicants ratio is calculated by dividing monthly active job openings for regular employees by monthly active job seekers in regular employment, excluding part-time workers. Since this job seeker count also includes people seeking temporary agency or contract work, the resulting ratio is lower than a strictly defined ratio would be.