Tokyo, Dec 1 (IANS): Japan's unemployment rate increased to 3.1 per cent in October, the highest level in more than three years, as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to adversely affect businesses, government data revealed on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the total number of unemployed people in the country increased 80,000 to 2.14 million, reports Xinhua news agency.

The unemployment rate for men increased to 3.4 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis, up 0.2 points from September, while that for women remained unchanged at 2.7 per cent, the latest data showed.

Meanwhile, the job availability ratio rose to 1.04 from 1.03 in September, which means that there were 104 job vacancies for every 100 job seekers.

It marked the first improvement since April 2019, as hiring began to pick up despite worries over the economic outlook amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Japanese government has launched a subsidy program to help struggling companies by trying to keep workers employed through the payment of subsidies.

According to some economists, it has shielded the labour market from a more severe hit.

The program is expected to be extended to February as part of an extra budget for the current fiscal year through next March.