The unemployment rate soared by 0.3 percentage point in September to a record 5.3 percent, the government reported Tuesday.

With 3.57 million people out of work, the labor minister called the situation "an emergency."

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi said the jobless situation has reached a "state of emergency," with the effects of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks in the United States and Japan's mad cow disease problem expected to "come out big in October."