Japan’s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell in October as people stopped looking for work. Household spending fell.
The jobless rate fell to 3.7 percent last month from 4 percent in September, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 35 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for unemployment to rise to 4.2 percent. Household spending fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier.
Toyota Motor Corp., world’s second biggest carmaker, said last week it will cut 3,000 contract workers, joining Isuzu Motors Ltd. and Mazda Motor Corp. in announcing job cuts. Consumers are now paring back spending because of concern about job security, rather than the risk of inflation that bothered them in the first half of the year.
Prime Minister Taro Aso plans to respond to the worsening outlook for consumer spending in Japan by asking Japanese corporate executives next week to seek higher wages for workers, Kyodo News reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter. The report didn’t mention whether Aso planned to ask companies to try to retain workers.
The government and the Bank of Japan downgraded their assessments of the world’s second-largest economy this month. Japan fell into its first recession in seven years last quarter.
Companies announced job reductions after exports declined at the fastest pace in almost seven years last month, prompting production cuts.
1 comment:
I couldn't expect this decrease in consumption to last long. Take it from someone who has lived there. The Japanese are a consumptuous people. They love their stuff. They are always looking for a reason to buy buy buy, And come this time of year they will have plenty.
Post a Comment