Japan's jobless rate stood at 4.1 percent in January, down 0.2 percentage point from December, the government said on Friday.

The number of unemployed people totaled 2.77 million, up 210,000 from a year earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare separately said the ratio of job offers to job seekers in the reporting month dipped 0.06 point to a seasonally adjusted 0.67, which means there were 67 jobs available for every 100 job seekers.

The labor ministry also disclosed a survey finding that about 157,806 nonregular employees in Japan are expected to lose their jobs between October 2008 and March 2009 amid the global economic downturn, up 26.4 percent from its previous survey.

(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2009)