P.M. BRIEFING : Tokyo Consumer Prices Up 3.6%

TOKYO — Consumer prices in Tokyo, a prime measure of the nation’s inflation rate, jumped 3.6% in December from a year earlier, the second-biggest gain of 1990, a government agency reported today.

However, prices were actually down slightly from November’s peak levels, the Management and Coordination Agency said in its monthly report.

In November, Tokyo consumer prices rose 3.9% from a year earlier, the sharpest rise in eight years. November’s inflation was even worse nationwide, rising 4.2% over November, 1989, the agency said.

Underlying Japan’s mounting consumer price inflation is a labor shortage that is driving up wages in the service sector, officials said. Unemployment figures for November, also released today, suggested the shortage is worsening--the jobless rate dipped 0.1 percentage point to 2.1%.