Research Report: January 2026 Active Job Openings Ratio at 1.18x, Unemployment Rate at 2.7%

RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) and recruitment consulting firm TsunaG Holdings Inc. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Mitsuhiro Yoneda) operates the "Tsuna-ken Labor Market Research Institute" (Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Director: Hiroshi Ohno), a research institution dedicated to diverse work styles. Tsuna-ken monthly publishes a "Labor Market Data Report," which curates and presents labor market data released by government agencies and others in an easy-to-understand format. This report summarizes the January 2026 data, based on the latest figures released in early March. \n \nClick here for report details \n \n\n[Topics] \n1. January\'s active job-opening ratio was 1.18x, a decrease of 0.02 points from the previous month. \n2. The unemployment rate was 2.7%, increasing from the previous month for the first time in 5 months. \n3. The growth rate of new job openings decreased by 4.6% year-on-year, marking the 9th consecutive month below the previous year\'s level. \n \n \n\n■1: January\'s active job-opening ratio was 1.18x, a decrease of 0.02 points from the previous month. \nIn January 2026, the active job-opening ratio (seasonally adjusted) stood at 1.18x, down 0.02 points from the previous month and 0.07 points from the same month last year. The job-opening ratio for part-time positions only (seasonally adjusted) was 1.11x, a decrease of 0.07 points from the same month last year. The active job-opening ratio for regular employees (seasonally adjusted) was 0.99x, down 0.04 points from the same month last year, falling below 1x for the fourth consecutive month. \n \n■2: The unemployment rate was 2.7%, an increase from the previous month for the first time in 5 months. \nIn January 2026, the unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) was 2.7%, an increase of 0.1 points from the previous month and 0.2 points from the same month last year. By age group, only the 25-34 age bracket showed a decrease (-0.1 points) compared to the same month last year. The number of completely unemployed individuals was 1.79 million, an increase of 160,000 from the same month last year. \n \n■3: The growth rate of new job openings decreased by 4.6% year-on-year, marking the 9th consecutive month below the previous year\'s level. \nIn January 2026, the number of new job openings was...