Japan's unemployment rate reaches record 5.6%

Japan's unemployment rate edged up to 5.6% in December, the fourth successive month of record high joblessness.

Japan's unemployment rate edged up to 5.6% in December, the fourth successive month of record high unemployment.

The country has been fighting a slowdown in the jobs market for more than a decade, and struggling to become a more industrialised, service-orientated economy.