A150 The closing of factories in Japan did lead to an increase in unemployment levels. Employees who could no longer be carried by the manufacturing industry could not switch quickly from manufacturing to service industries. In recent years, however, unemployment levels have been falling and the migration of people from manufacturing to service industries has been smooth. The long-term trend of falling employee numbers in manufacturing industries has bottomed out and, since 2005, the trend has been reversing, albeit slowly. As of August 2006, 11.73 million people were employed in manufacturing, an increase of 300,000 from the 2005 low.