The seasonally adjusted jobless rate in January returned to the record high 5.5 percent posted in October as beleaguered companies continued to shed jobs, the government said Friday.

The figure was up from the revised 5.3 percent registered in December.

The number of unemployed rose for the first time in three months, by 130,000 from a year earlier to 3.57 million, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said in a preliminary report.