Unemployment increases around world

JAPAN — Japan's unemployment rate fell for the second straight month in September as companies gained more confidence in the stimulus-fueled global recovery but prices continued to tumble, underscoring weak demand at home. The jobless rate stood at a seasonally adjusted 5.3 percent in September, down from 5.5 percent the previous month and a record high of 5.7 percent in July, the government said Friday. The figures suggest job losses in the world's second-biggest economy are easing as companies gain more confidence that global demand for Japan's cars, electronics and other mainstay exports is picking up. Japan's factory output posted its seventh consecutive rise in September.

CHINA — The official urban unemployment rate was 4.3 percent for the three months ended Sept. 30, unchanged from the previous three month period. But the actual level could be more than double that because the government system ignores millions of migrant workers and employees who are furloughed by state companies but not recorded as laid off. As of Sept. 30 there were 9.15 million registered unemployed people in an urban workforce of 210 million. As many as 30 million migrants are believed to have lost jobs in export-oriented factories in late 2008, government officials said.

BRAZIL — The government says the unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in August — virtually unchanged from the previous month. Brazil emerged from recession in the second quarter. Analysts predict the economy will expand slightly in 2009.

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