Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate reached a nearly six- year high of 5.2 percent in May, with job availability dropping to the lowest level on record, the government said Tuesday.

The rate, the highest since September 2003, rose from 5.0 percent in April.

The number of jobless people increased by the biggest ever 770,000 from a year earlier to 3.47 million for the seventh straight monthly increase, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report.

Of them, 1.10 million had been laid off, up 460,000, the ministry said.

Separate data released by the labor ministry showed the ratio of job offers to job seekers in May was at a seasonally adjusted 0.44, the lowest on record. The ratio, down from 0.46 in the previous month, means that there were 44 jobs available for every 100 job seekers.

The latest job figures suggest it may be just a matter of time before Japan's unemployment rate tops its postwar high of 5.5 percent, despite some recent positive signs in corporate activity, economists said.

The rate has been climbing constantly since January's 4.1 percent.

In May, the jobless rate for men grew 0.1 percentage point from the previous month to 5.4 percent, while that for women grew 0.3 point to 4.9 percent.

The number of job offers fell 2.2 percent from April and that of job seekers rose 2.4 percent, according to the data from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

The number of new job offers plunged 34.5 percent from a year earlier. By industry, new jobs fell most in the manufacturing sector, down 55.9 percent, followed by 46.4 percent in the information and communications industry.