Japan's jobless rate rises to 4.6 pct in Dec.

Japan's jobless rate rose to 4.6 percent in December 2011, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous month, the government said Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted figure marked the first deterioration in two months. For 2011, the country's unemployment rate, excluding prefectures hit by the twin disasters in March, declined to an average 4.5 percent, down 0.5 percentage point from the previous year, according to government data. The number of unemployed stood at 2.84 million in 2011, down 330,000 from 2010. The number of the employed people stood at 59. 77 million, down 30,000.