* Obama's jobs proposals may set tone next week
* Investors awaiting cues on whether Fed will ease
* Muted reaction to relatively unknown new Japan finmin
By Lisa Twaronite and Ayai Tomisawa
TOKYO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average fell on Friday, slipping back below the 9,000 level as profit-taking emerged after six straight days of gains and following a drop in U.S. shares ahead of a key jobs report.
The Nikkei slid nearly 9 percent in August and while most market participants expect September to be a better month, uncertainty about the strength of the global economy continues to cap the upside.
A decline in the employment component of the Institute for Supply Management's factory activity index on Thursday has heightened worries that U.S. nonfarm payroll data due later on Friday will be worse than some had initially believed.
Economists polled by Reuters expect U.S. nonfarm payrolls to have risen by 75,000 in August and unemployment to stay at 9.1 percent. The report is due out at 1230 GMT.
"Global economic worries are the main focus and volume has been relatively low recently. At times like this, both buying and selling can be risky, so this is keeping stocks trapped in their recent ranges," said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
The jobs report is the only major employment indicator before the Fed's specially lengthened two-day policy meeting from Sept. 20, at which many market participants expect the Fed to decide on additional easing steps. Unemployment is a key determinant in whether the Fed takes additional action to support the economy.
The Nikkei, which closed above 9,000 for the first time in two weeks on Thursday, was down 1 percent at 8,966.42 in midafternoon trade, having given back most of the previous day's gains.
The broader Topix index fell 1.0 percent, to 770.36.
Analysts said that for next week, U.S. President Barack Obama's new jobs proposals will likely set the tone in the U.S. markets.
The proposals would improve unemployment projections that his administration put forth on Thursday in a midyear review of the federal budget, the White House said.
"Recently battered exporters may be picked up in the Japanese market," said Hideyuki Okoshi, general manager at Chibagin Securities.
Japanese markets showed a muted reaction to news on Friday that Jun Azumi, a relatively unknown former parliamentary affairs chief for the ruling Democratic Party, was named Japan's new finance minister.
Sony Corp dropped 3.8 percent to 1,633 yen. The Nikkei business daily reported Friday that the yen's strength against the euro is pushing down operating profits of electronics manufacturers, including Sony.
Toyota Motor fell 1.5 percent at 2,714 yen and Honda Motor shed 1.6 percent to 2,517 yen in active trade after data showing their U.S. sales dropped in August. Toyota's U.S. sales fell 13 percent last month and Honda's tumbled 24 percent.
KDDI climbed 1.4 percent to 581,000 yen after a ratings upgrade by Deutsche Securities and a Jiji news report that Tokyo Electric Power may sell about 200 billion yen ($2.6 billion) worth of shares in KDDI back to the telecommunications company. (Editing by Chris Gallagher)