Japan's Jobless Rate Drops to 4.8 Pct.
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Japan's unemployment rate improved in August while a key economic survey released Friday showed growing corporate optimism in the latest signs of a gradual rebound in the world's second largest economy.
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The Japanese government downgraded its  view on the economy slightly on Tuesday, citing weaker exports  and output, but it said a recovery was continuing due to steady  domestic demand, in terms of both personal consumption and  capital spending.  "The economy continues to recover, while  some weak movements have been seen recently," the government  said in its monthly economic report.
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Japan's Nikkei average closed down 0.79 percent on Friday after the government surprised the market with a downward revision to economic growth figures.
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The number of people in Britain claiming unemployment benefits have fallen for a fourth month in a row in January, with the unemployment rate settling at 2.9 percent.
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Japanese companies were less upbeat in December than they were three months ago, amid recent data indicating that the world's second-largest economy may be losing steam, a key government survey showed Wednesday.
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The unemployment rate last month dipped to 4.6 percent even though the number of new jobs was disappointing, a sign the economy is slowing but in no danger of stalling as Election Day nears.
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Japan&#39;s economy grew 0.3 percent in April-June from the previous quarter, less than the 0.4 percent growth rate initially estimated, the government said Friday.
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CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia&#39;s jobless rate fell to 5.3 percent last month, the lowest level for 27 years, the government said Thursday.
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Japan Airlines said it would cut 4,300 employees, or about 8 percent of its work force, by March 2010 as part of its four-year business plan intended to improve profits. The company, which is based in Tokyo, reported a loss for the most recent quarter and is still struggling to regain customer confidence after a spate of safety lapses in recent years. The company reported a loss of 10.8 billion yen ($89.9 million) for the October-December quarter, slightly less than the 11 billion yen loss it recorded for the period in 2005. Sales rose 4.9 percent, to 584.1 billion yen ($4.9 billion). Cargo traffic from Japan to China was strong, but traffic to the United States was weak in the latest quarter.
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Consumer prices in Japan fell for the fourth month in a row during May following lower oil costs, figures show.
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Japan&#39;s central bank offered a bleaker assessment of the country&#39;s economy Friday for the first time in more than a year and a half, citing weaker industrial production and slowing export growth.
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WASHINGTON -- A hiring revival pulled the nation's unemployment rate down to 4.7 percent in August sending a Labor Day weekend message that the slowing economy isn't in danger of fizzling out. The latest snapshot, released by the Labor Department yesterday, was a bit brighter than expected and eased some fears that the economy -- weighed down by a housing ...
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Japan&#39;s economy grew 0.3 percent in real terms in the April-June period from the previous quarter, the government said Friday, marking a surprise downward revision from the initially reported expansion of 0.4 percent.
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Australiaâs jobless rate fell to a 31-year low in January as fewer people sought work, worsening a worker shortage that may fuel wages and inflation. The rate fell to 4.5 percent from 4.6 percent in December, the lowest since May 1976. Australian employers hired an extra 300,000 workers last year, the largest gain since 1989..
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The U.S. economy shed 4,000 jobs in August, as layoffs in the mortgage and construction industries combined with the ongoing slide in manufacturing employment to produce the first such monthly decline in four years.
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Japanâs industrial production unexpectedly dropped in May for a third month, the longest losing streak in almost two years. Production fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent from a month earlier, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. Slower production diminishes hopes that economic growth will accelerate, in contrast with other reports released in the last week, which said that export growth almost doubled to 15.1 percent in May and retail sales gained for the first time in eight months. The Bank of Japanâs governor, Toshihiko Fukui, said this month that the bank needed more evidence of the economyâs strength before it raises the key interest rate from 0.5 percent.
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Japan&#39;s economic growth in the April-June period was revised down to 0.3 percent in real terms, dropping 0.1 percentage points from the previously released figure,the government said Friday.