The Japanese unemployment rate jumped to a 5-year high, by 0.4 percentage points to 4.8% in March. Economists had forecast the figure to come out to 4.4%. The deviation between expectations and the actual release may have come on the back of the labor force participation statistic. March saw this figure increase to highest point since December.
The move just a day after the Bank of Japan held its overnight interest rate at 0.10% and announced it would continue to purchase federal debt securities on the open market at the same steady rate as it had in the past.
