Posted October 19, 2012 06:30:00Japan is preparing to release data on labor force participation on Wednesday as part of a push to improve its labor force in a bid to boost the economy.
The data will be released as part a report on labor market indicators from the National Institute of Statistics and Statistics.
The government plans to release the data on Wednesday, but the final date has not been set.
The labor force data will help the government gauge the labor market’s progress and its prospects for recovery.
Japan has the world’s second-largest population, with the third-largest workforce.
The economy grew 7.2% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier.
The number of people employed fell slightly in the quarter, the first decline since the first quarter of 2011.
The unemployment rate fell to 5.7%, down from 5.8% in March.
The drop was due mainly to a drop in unemployment insurance, which rose by 1.9% to 3.4 million.
The labor force is the number of employed people in the labor force.
It includes all people employed full-time in the public and private sectors.
Japan’s labor force has grown by a smaller share than the U.S., which has a smaller labor force than many countries.
In the first half of 2012, Japan’s economy contracted for a third consecutive quarter, a slowdown that has led to a national debate about the country’s economic recovery.
The country’s government plans for the economy to grow 3.5% this year.
The Labor Ministry’s Labor Market Survey and Statistics Agency said the economy contracted 1.5%, the biggest drop since the third quarter of 2010.
The last time Japan’s gross domestic product contracted for the first time in three years was in December 2007.
The economy shrank at a faster rate in the first two months of this year than it did in the last three years.
The first quarter was the slowest since the global financial crisis.
The slow growth has hurt Japan’s exports and weakened its domestic demand.
Economists had expected growth to grow by about 1% in 2012 and 1.1% in 2013.
The Japanese economy has slowed in recent years.
It has been plagued by a slowing economy and a sharp decline in exports.
