The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to a 76-month low of 4.4 percent in April, down 0.1 percentage point from March, the government said Tuesday, suggesting that employment is steadily improving on the back of economic recovery.

The number of unemployed people totaled 3.10 million in the reporting month, down 250,000 from the previous month, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said in a preliminary report.

The last time the jobless rate was 4.4 percent was in December 1998.

Unemployment has now fallen for two months in a row.

"Employment conditions are improving, though some problems remain among the young," a ministry official said.

The market expected a jobless rate of 4.5 percent.

Other data confirmed the improvement in employment conditions.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said in a separate report the ratio of job offers to job seekers came to a seasonally adjusted 0.94 in April, up 0.03 point from the previous month. The figure means there were 94 jobs available for every 100 job seekers.

The number of job offers grew 0.9 percent from March and that of job seekers fell 2.4 percent. The number of new job offers rose 6.1 percent.

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said the improvement shows that the economy remains on a recovery track despite a current soft patch.

Private-sector economists welcomed the drop in the April jobless rate, but some remained cautious about whether employment conditions would continue to improve at a steady pace.