Unemployment rate hit a nine-year low of 4.1 percent in fiscal 2006, down from 4.3 percent the previous year, the government said Friday.

The unemployment rate fell for the fourth straight year after peaking at 5.4 percent in fiscal 2002, reflecting a tightening in the labor market amid the longest economic boom in the postwar era.

Also contributing was stronger demand for workers from the corporate sector as an increasing number of baby boomers reached retirement age, the government said.