The number of employed people in May fell by 40,000 from a year earlier. It was the first time in 17 months that employment declined from a year earlier, which is analyzed as the impact of a sharp drop in manufacturing jobs due to the fallout from the Middle East war.
According to the "Employment trends for May 2026" that the Ministry of Data and Statistics (MODS) released on the 11th, the total number of employed people last month was 29.12 million, down 40,000 from the same month a year earlier. It was the first decline in employment since Dec. 2024 (down 52,000).
The Ministry of Data and Statistics (MODS) said the number of employed people fell sharply, led by manufacturing, due to the fallout from the Middle East war. The number of manufacturing employees fell by 140,000 from the same period a year earlier, the biggest drop in 7 years and 3 months since Feb. 2019 (down 151,000).
By industry, employment increased mainly in health and social welfare services (212,000), arts, sports and leisure-related services (44,000), and transportation and warehousing (36,000), but fell in manufacturing as well as in agriculture, forestry and fishing (121,000) and in professional, scientific and technical services (89,000).
The employment rate for ages 15 to 64 (OECD-comparable basis) was 70.2%, down 0.3 percentage point (p) from a year earlier. The unemployment rate was 2.9%, up 0.1 percentage point (p) from a year earlier.
Labor market conditions for young people (ages 15 to 29) remained weak. The youth employment rate was 43.8%, down 2.4 percentage points. This marked a decline for the 25th consecutive month, the longest downturn since a 51-month slide during the global financial crisis from Sep. 2005 to Nov. 2009. The youth unemployment rate was 7.2%, up 0.6 percentage point from a year earlier.
The number of employed people in their 20s fell by 251,000, the largest drop in 5 years and 4 months since Jan. 2021 (down 255,000). The Ministry of Data and Statistics (MODS) explained that as career-based and rolling recruitment increase, the number of employed young people is on a declining trend.
The economically inactive population, those neither employed nor unemployed, was 15.986 million, up 264,000 from a year earlier. It increased among those in school or taking courses (124,000) and those doing housework (126,000). The number of people "taking a break" was 2.437 million, up 84,000 from last year.