Photo/Illutration People wait in front of the unemployment benefits section, while practicing social distancing, at a public employment office in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward in April 2020. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A total of 100,425 people have lost their jobs in Japan as of April 7 due to the COVID-19 pandemic since it began in 2020, the health ministry announced.

The number includes people who have been fired or not had their contracts renewed and some who are expected to lose their jobs due to the pandemic.

The ministry's data is based on notifications from companies of the number of firings and unrenewed contracts to public employment offices across the nation.

It has been tallying the jobs data since February 2020 to get a picture of the changes in the nation's employment situation amid the pandemic as soon as possible.

Japan's most brutal month for job losses to date related to the pandemic was May 2020, when 12,949 people became unemployed as a result.

The monthly number has been basically falling since but in March this year it rose by about 4,000 from the previous month to 9,292 people.

Companies may have accelerated their layoffs at that time with the fiscal year concluding at the end of March, some experts have pointed out.

Of the 99,765 people who had lost their jobs by April 2, manufacturing businesses accounted for slightly over 20 percent, the highest of all businesses. Retail businesses and restaurants and bars accounted for slightly more than 10 percent each.

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