The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.8 percent in December, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Tuesday, cited by rttnews.

That was above expectations for 2.7 percent, which would have been unchanged.

The job-to-applicant ratio was 1.59, exceeding forecasts for 1.57 and up from 1.56 in the previous month.

The number of employed persons in December was 65.42 million, an increase of 520,000 or 0.8 percent on year.