Although the Japanese economy has not yet got out of the severe situation with meager improvements in the household sector, activities on the whole continue to rise modestly. The strength is seen mainly in the corporate sector, where autonomous nature of the recovery has become increasing evident. Personal consumption remains broadly flat while household income appears to be improving. Housing investment has stayed unchanged as a whole, with a decline in condominium construction offset by a rise in owner-occupied single houses. Business investment continues to rise, led by buoyant outlays by specific industries such as electric machinery.
Public investment remains lower than in a year earlier.
Export volume as a whole slow down, with exports to the United States and Western Europe faltering, while those to Asia remain resilient. Industrial production continues to rise steadily. Although the slack in the labour market has diminished little as exemplified by the rather high unemployment rate, improvements continue to be seen in the growing number of job offers and in rising overtime hours worked. Corporate profits continue to rise markedly. Business confidence has improved as a whole, although it remains low in some sectors.