Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in November stood at 5.2 percent, unchanged from the previous month, when it posted the first increase since March.

This indicates that a rocky road still lies ahead for a full-fledged economic recovery.

According to a preliminary report issued Friday by the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, the number of people without jobs totaled 3.30 million, down by 80,000 from a year earlier, for the sixth consecutive monthly decline.

The number of employed people fell for a fourth straight month, by 230,000 to 63.23 million.

Of the employed, women decreased by 220,000 from a year earlier to 26 million in a turnaround from rises for six months in a row.

Employed men dropped by 10,000 to 37.23 million.

In a separate report, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said the ratio of job offers to job-seekers stood at 0.74 in November, up 0.04 point from October and the highest level since July 1997. The figure means 74 jobs were available for every 100 job-seekers.

The ratio came to 1.04 in the Tokai region, surpassing the 1.00 mark for the first time since June 1997. Five prefectures also saw the ratio top 1.00 in November, up from one in September and three in October.

The number of job offers rose 1.8 percent from October and that of job-seekers fell 3.2 percent, while the number of new job offers increased by 12.1 percent from a year earlier.

The labor ministry said many of the job openings apparently targeted part-timers and temporary workers and did not necessarily match demand from job-seekers, thus failing to improve the jobless rate for November.

The public management ministry report says the November jobless rate for men was unchanged from the previous month, at 5.4 percent, and that for women rose 0.1 percentage point to 5 percent.