Japan's unemployment rate fell 0.3 per cent in February from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted 4.6 per cent, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Tuesday.
The figure compared to median economists' forecast of a 4.9 per cent reading in the recording period.
The number of jobless people totalled 3 million, down 240,000 from a year earlier, marking the ninth straight monthly fall, the ministry said.
The number of people who were asked to leave their jobs due to corporate failures and other business misfortunes fell by 280,000 people, whereas those who left their jobs of their own volition remained unchanged at 60,000 in February, according to the Ministry's data.
The Ministry also noted that a total of 62.23 million people had jobs in the recording period, from 62.04 a month earlier, a rise of 380,000 more jobholders and marking the first increase in two months.
Separately, the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry reported Tuesday that the jobs-to-applicants ratio rose to 0.62 from a revised 0.61 in January, marking the highest ratio since January 2009, with the number of new job offers increasing from 18.8 in January to 22.9 percent in February from a year earlier and rising for the 12th straight month.
On a seasonally-adjusted basis the number of new positions offered rose 4.0 percent from a month earlier, the government data showed
Meanwhile, average household spending in Japan dropped 0.2 percent in February from a year earlier to 260,793 yen, marking the fifth month of retraction, government data also showed Tuesday.
Household spending fell to 260,793 yen (about 3,193 U.S. dollars) in the recording period the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Tuesday, whilst the monthly income of salaried households stood at an average 470,071 yen (5,755 U.S. dollars), up a real 1.0 percent, the government data showed.