A drain on retail and restaurant jobs that hit women particularly hard pushed the unemployment rate in December back up to a record 5.5 percent for the third time in a year.

The data, released Friday by the public management ministry, underlines the nation's deep economic troubles, with payrolls even shrinking at major companies long used to ensuring lifetime employment for their workers.

Unemployment for 2002 was a worst-ever 5.4 percent, up from 5 percent in 2001. The rate for men was 5.5 percent and 5.1 percent for women. Both were record highs.