Japan Unemployment Rate: Thursday, June 29th

For the May reading, the Estimize community is expecting an unemployment rate of 2.8%, this level of unemployment is the lowest in over two decades. However, this level of unemployment is not from the expanding job market, rather the shrinking labor force. Many businesses are beginning to actually cut hours due to the shortage of workers. The idea of low unemployment equating to an economic equilibrium and economic expansion proves to be a fallacy in Japan. There are two main reasons this is occurring. First, a large portion of the working population is at the age or close to the age of retiring and the working-age population is shrinking. Second, the amount of people looking to immigrate to Japan is steadily declining.

Brazil Unemployment Rate: Friday, June 30th

Analysts at Estimize are expecting no change for Brazil’s May unemployment rate, with a consensus of 13.7%. Last quarter there was a glimmer of hope for the Brazilian economy when the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1%. This was the first fall in unemployment since October of 2015. The economic crisis that is occurring is accompanied by a political crisis, due to prosecutors filing charges of “passive corruption” against President Michel Temer. Finally, the level of underemployment sits at 24.1%, which just adds to the already crumbling labor market.

Germany Unemployment Rate: Friday, June 30th

The Estimize community believes that the unemployment rate in Germany will stay constant at 5.7%. This record-low unemployment rate is accompanied by stagnant wages, due to the fact that German companies are having difficulty finding skilled workers. However, Europe’s largest economy could see an upside surprise from Brexit and Theresa May’s strict immigration policy. This would lead the 250,000 or so workers who usually go to the UK for work to look elsewhere.