Record jobless rate adds to Japanís woes - 12/2001

Japanís unemployment rate hit a record 5.3 percent in September, while spending by households fell for the sixth straight month.

The jobless rate is the highest since Japan began gathering data in the 1950s.

The figures provide further evidence of the weak state of Japanís economy, the second-largest in the world after the U.S.

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