Japan's rate of unemployment has fallen to 4.9 per cent, marking another positive sign of economic recovery across the globe.

The figure, reported by the country's Statistics Bureau, was widely unexpected, dropping from 5.2 per cent in December and a high of 5.6 per cent last July.

Overall, 3.23 million people in Japan were unemployed during January and the job-to-applicant ratio reached 46:100.

But companies may not continue to recruit people at such a rate, according to JPMorgan Chase senior economist Masamichi Adachi, who told Bloomberg firms were not currently at the stage where they need more workers.

Another report, however, demonstrated an increase in monthly expenditure for households of two or more people across the nation.

The average income per household was found to be 434,344 yen, but spending went up 1.7 per cent from 2009 to reach 291,918 yen.

Upward trends in terms of payments for furniture, transportation and food led the rise.