Japan's unemployment rate has risen to 4.4% as companies cut jobs to survive the global downturn.
Exports have nearly halved, throwing the world's second biggest economy into crisis.
The government says consumer spending was down in February by 3.5% compared to a year earlier.
The number of unemployed people in Japan in February stood at 2.99 million, up by 330,000 from a year before according to the government
