According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the number of employed people stood at a seasonally adjusted 67.44 million, which increases compared to 67.36 million people with jobs in the same period in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ratio of job offers to job seekers, meanwhile, remained flat in April at 1.32, separate data from the labor ministry showed Tuesday.
The figure equates to there being 132 job openings for every 100 people looking for work.
The labor ministry also said the number of people seeking work in the recording period dropped 0.7 percent, while the number of job openings was down from the previous month by 0.6 percent.
New job openings in the construction sector fell 9.6 percent, while those in the key manufacturing sector dropped 9.3 percent, the ministry's data showed.
Job openings in the accommodation and food services sector marked an uptick, however, climbing 8.2 percent from a year earlier, the ministry also said.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, 1.80 million people were unemployed in April, the statistics bureau said, with the number dropping 7.7 percent from March.
In the recording period, 730,000 people left their jobs of their own volition, declining by 11 percent from a month earlier, the ministry said, while 440,000 people were laid off, 15.4 percent less than the previous month.
The rate of unemployment edged down 0.3 point from a month earlier to 2.7 percent for males, while the rate for females stood at 2.4 percent, down 0.1 point, the ministry's data also showed.
While the unemployment rate is projected to keep dropping to pre-pandemic levels in the lower 2 percent range, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
Prior to the pandemic, Japan had already been contending with an intensifying labor crunch amid the nation's rapidly aging and shrinking population.
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