Job hunters streaming into Hello Work, Japan's cheerily named state job-centres, are now a familiar sight. Once hugely proud of having the lowest level of unemployment among rich countries, Japan has watched the rate rise to more than 5% in recent years. Waves of corporate restructuring fuelled the trend. This, in turn, created growing demand for private outplacement services: industry revenues jumped by 45% to ￥320 billion ($3 billion) in the year to March 2003,11 times higher than six years earlier. By contrast, corporate cutbacks dampened demand in the temporary-staffing industry.
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