Despite rising corporate profits, Japan?s jobless rate remained steady at 5.3% this July. More workers are not being hired because companies are still struggling to pay off debt. Japan has also lost manufacturing jobs to Asian competitors. There have been some new job openings in the medical and information technology fields, but not all workers have the skills to qualify for these jobs.
See "Japan's Jobless Rate Steady at 5.3 Percent", The New York Times, August 28, 2003