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 the autonomous nature of the recovery has become increasingly evident. Personal consumption remains broadly flat while household income has improved a little. Housing investment declined somewhat in the most recent month, as starts of owner-occupied single houses, after rising for the past few months, fell. Business investment continues to rise, led by buoyant outlays by manufacturing firms.
Public investment remains lower than in a year earlier.
Export volume flattened, and has remained broadly unchanged. Industrial production continues to rise steadily. Although the slack in the labour market has diminished little as exemplified by the stubbornly rather high unemployment rate, improvements continue to be seen in the growing number of job offers and in the rising trend of overtime hours worked. Corporate profits continue to rise markedly. Business confidence continues to improve slightly, with, however, some deterioration foreseen for the immediate future.