The jobless rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.5 percent in November, rewriting the record high for a third consecutive month as the economic slump continues to weigh heavily on the labor market, government sources said Thursday.

The Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry is to formally announce the data this morning.

The unemployment rate has risen by 0.5 percentage point since July, when it hit 5 percent for the first time since government surveys began in 1953.

The rate stayed at 5 percent in August but rose to 5.3 percent in September and 5.4 percent in October as companies continued slashing jobs to cope with the lingering economic downturn.

According to a preliminary report for October announced by the public management ministry last month, male full-time workers were hit particularly hard, with their unemployment rate climbing 0.4 percentage point to a record 5.8 percent.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he will implement steps aimed both at creating jobs and implementing reform programs in a bid to curb the nation's rising unemployment.

"The severe situation is continuing, and that is all the more reason why I think we should firmly carry out both structural reforms and steps for employment," the prime minister said.

The latest figures mean the government, which has forecast a jobless rate of 5.2 percent for fiscal 2001, can only attain its projection if the rate falls to 5.4 percent and stays there from December through March, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a business daily.

In November, the number of corporate bankruptcies surged 10 percent from a year earlier to 1,683, hitting a record high for any November. It was also the fifth worst figure for any month in the postwar period, according to Teikoku Databank Ltd.

The bankruptcies included two companies listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.