Tokyo, Japan (NNN-Xinhua) : The availability of jobs in Japan rose to its highest level in more than four decades in April, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said in a report on Tuesday.

According to the ministry, the ratio of job offers to job seekers came to 1.48 in April from 1.45 in March, marking the highest level since February 1974. The reading means that for every 100 job seekers there were 148 positions available in the recording period.

The latest data will be a boon for the government who has been leaning on corporations to boost employment and bring an end to a protracted period of what the government has described as a “a tight employment situation.”

The government and the Bank of Japan is hoping that increased employment will translate into consumers spending more as domestic consumption has been impeded amid what the Bank of Japan has called a “deflationary mindset” among the Japanese public.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that the unemployment rate in April remained unchanged from a month earlier at 2.8 percent, with the unemployment rate for men rising 0.1 point to 2.9 percent and that for women decreasing 0.1 point to 2.6 percent.

The government figures also showed the number of unemployed people rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent, to 1.86 million people in April which translates to 20,000 more than a month earlier.

Japan had 65.22 million workers, up 0.4 percent from the previous month, the figures also showed.

Separately, the government said that household spending in April dropped 1.4 percent from a year earlier to 295,929 yen (2,600 U.S. dollar), marking the 14th straight month of decline.