Japan’s Ultralow Jobless Rate Ignores 4 Million People on Leave

Japan’s headline unemployment data doesn’t tell the full story of the country’s jobless pain.

Figures from the statistics bureau last week showed the unemployment rate ticked up to just 2.6% in April, a figure of envy for other countries as jobless rates rocket around the world amid the pandemic. Problem is, the numbers don’t include an extra 4.2 million people, who are technically still attached to their employers but aren’t actually working and may not be getting full paychecks, if anything.