The unemployment rate for men in Japan rose to a record 5 percent in April, offsetting a slight gain for women and keeping the overall figure at an all-time high of 4.8 percent for the second month in a row, the government said Tuesday.

The ranks of the unemployed rose by 520,000 from the previous month to hit 3.42 million — the highest number since the government began compiling employment data in 1953, the Management and Coordination Agency said.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the jobless rate for men rose from 4.8 percent while the rate for women declined 0.3 of a point from March to 4.5 percent.

The agency attributed the changes to deterioration in permanent employment for males and an increase in part-time employment for females.

Those who involuntarily lost jobs in April outnumbered those who independently quit for the first time since June 1987, when the economy was hit by the appreciation of the yen against the dollar.

Economic Planning Agency chief Taichi Sakaiya said the government must take immediate action to create jobs.

"The private and public sectors fail to understand that unemployment is a serious issue," he said at a news conference.

Sakaiya suggested easing funding limitations on a certain type of fund that, when the jobless rate hits a certain level, could be used to subsidize the hiring of middle-aged and elderly workers who have been forced out of work.