Tokyo - Japan's unemployment rate rose for the first time in 29 months, hitting 4 per cent in April, as the number of workers in the construction sector dropped, the government reported Friday.

The rate was up from 3.8 per cent in the previous month, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said.

The number of people registered as unemployed rose by 70,000 from March, and there were 93 jobs for every 100 people looking for a position, down from 95 in March, the ministry said.

The government, meanwhile, stood by its assessment that Japan's economic recovery was stagnating while also reporting that household spending fell 2.7 per cent in April from the same month a year earlier to 310,695 yen (2,957 dollars).

Household spending accounts for 55 per cent of economic activity in the world's second-largest economy. (dpa)