Japan's unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent in August after reaching a record high a month earlier, the government said Friday.

The jobless rate in the world's No. 2 economy hit 5.7 percent in July, the highest in the post-World War II era, amid mounting job and wage cuts. Analysts had predicted the figure would rise.

In a separate report, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said household spending rose 2.6 percent from a year earlier despite a 2 percent drop in average monthly income.