Japan's unemployment rate in June rose from a month earlier amid a labor shortage, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a report Tuesday.

According to the ministry, the unemployment rate in the recording month stood at 2.4 percent in June, compared to 2.2 percent a month earlier, as an increased number of people have quit their jobs in search for better ones.

Separately, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said that job availability stood at 1.62 in June, rising from 1.6 in May. The figure translates to there being 162 job openings for every 100 workers.

As an indicator of Japan's tightening labor market, the job availability in the recording period marked the highest level in more than 44 years.

Japan had 66.32 million workers in June on a seasonally-adjusted basis, 410,000 or 0.6 percent fewer than in May.

To address the labor shortage, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced last week a plan to accept more foreign workers into the country from next April.