The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage point to 4.4 percent in July from June partly because more people were seeking better jobs amid the economic recovery, the government said Tuesday.

The number of jobless people shrank 290,000 to 2.89 million in July from a year earlier for the third straight monthly decline, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said in a preliminary report.

The jobless rate for July compared with the average projection of 4.2 percent by private-sector economists polled by Kyodo News.