TOKYO (AFP) – Japan’s unemployment rate rose slightly in April, official data showed on Tuesday, with analysts highlighting the struggling electronics sector as contributing to job losses.

The nation’s jobless rate edged as much as 4.6 percent from 4.5 percent in March, the inner affairs ministry said, defying economists’ expectations that it will remain flat based on Dow Jones Newswires.

However, positive data showing household spending at the rise gave hope amid a lumbering economic recovery.

The news came as reports said Tuesday Panasonic may halve its 7,000-strong Osaka headquarters as portion of a bid to streamline the Japanese electronics giant and switch a profit following a record $9.7 billion annual loss.

“Japan’s job market is anticipated to remain on the current level for now but may make progress in accordance with an expected gradual recovery of the Japanese economy,” said Hideki Matsumura, senior economist at Japan Research Institute.

“Japan’s job situation is split over business sectors. The electronics sector is, for instance, at the negative side as they’re still struggling to locate a cue to select up,” he added.

Japan’s electronics sector was hit by the appreciation of the yen, which makes exporters’ products less competitive overseas, while falling prices inside the face of tough competition and slow demand at home have also eaten into profits.

The government also said Tuesday that household spending rose an inflation-adjusted 2.6 percent from a year earlier in April, higher than a standard 2.2 percent growth forecast by economists.

Average spending per household came to 301,948 yen ($3,790) within the month.

“The household spending figures don’t seem to be so bad,” Matusmura said.

The labour ministry said in a separate report Tuesday that the ratio of jobs available to job seekers stood at 0.79 in April, up from 0.76 in March, meaning there have been 79 posts on offer for each 100 job hunters.

Last week, the Bank of Japan said it will keep rates of interest at an ultra-low zero to 0.1 percent with the nation’s moribund economy “expected to come back to a moderate recovery path because the pace of recovery in overseas economies picks up.”

It also said reconstruction-related spending would help power the world’s third-largest economy following the March 2011 quake-tsunami disaster.

However the central bank warned that “there remains a high degree of uncertainty in regards to the global economy, including the prospects for the ecu debt problem” and the velocity of a US economic recovery.

Japan’s national debt also remains a key concern, with Fitch cutting the country’s sovereign credit standing this month, and warning of another possible downgrade if Tokyo would not hasten a bid to shrink its staggering liabilities.

Tokyo’s debt stands at greater than twice its gross domestic product — the very best ratio among industrialised nations.