Japan's unemployment climbs to 5.2 percent

Tokyo, Dec 25 : Japan's jobless rate climbed for the first time in four months in November, to 5.2 percent, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Friday.

The unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in October. The number of unemployed people rose to 3.31 million in November, up 750,000 from a year earlier, the ministry said.

The job-to-applicant ratio was almost flat at 0.45, which means there were only 45 job offers for every 100 job applicants, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said.