Japan's unemployment rate rises to 4.7 per cent

Tokyo: Japan's unemployment rate in April rose for the first time in six months, while the nation's factory output posted a weaker-than-expected rebound amid sluggish output following the March earthquake and tsunami.

The April jobless rate climbed to 4.7 per cent from the March unemployment rate of 4.6 per cent, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Tuesday.

The number of jobless people in Japan stood at 3.09 million in April, down 300,000 from a year earlier, the ministry said.

Japan's industrial output in April rose 1.0 per cent from the previous month, recovering from a record 15.5 per cent drop in March, the government said.

But factory output - a key barometer of Japan's economic health - posted a weaker-than-expected rebound as economists forecast a 2.2 per cent output increase on average in a Kyodo News survey.