Jobless rate holds steady in Japan
By Jay Alabaster |
March 2, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Japan's jobless rate held steady in January but consumer spending fell from a year ago, the government said yesterday, underscoring the fragility of its economic recovery as a political battle rages over the next national budget.
The country's jobless rate stood at 4.9 percent in January, unchanged from December. The seasonally adjusted figure indicates a recovery from the recent downturn, when it crept as high as 5.4 percent in 2009, and matched an average of economist forecasts by the Kyodo news agency.
But the government also said consumer spending fell 1.0 percent in January from a year earlier, as the average salary at working households declined.
The mixed figures reflect economic weakness in Japan, which faces a host of serious problems, including an aging population and a growing national debt. Last week, Moody's Investors Service cut its outlook on Japan's debt rating, questioning the government's power to enact reforms even as it struggles with the highest debt burden among advanced economies.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan's ruling party is trying to pass a fiscal budget against stiff political opposition. The budget plan cleared Japan's more powerful lower house of parliament early yesterday as the ruling Democrats try to enact it by the start of the fiscal year in April.
Under the Constitution, a budget bill passed by the lower house automatically becomes law if the upper house - now controlled by the opposition - does not vote on it within 30 days or votes it down.
The gridlock has made many Japanese disillusioned with politics and critical of Kan in particular. His approval rating fell below 20 percent in a recent Kyodo poll.
The country's jobless rate stood at 4.9 percent in January, unchanged from December. The seasonally adjusted figure indicates a recovery from the recent downturn, when it crept as high as 5.4 percent in 2009, and matched an average of economist forecasts by the Kyodo news agency.
But the government also said consumer spending fell 1.0 percent in January from a year earlier, as the average salary at working households declined.
The mixed figures reflect economic weakness in Japan, which faces a host of serious problems, including an aging population and a growing national debt. Last week, Moody's Investors Service cut its outlook on Japan's debt rating, questioning the government's power to enact reforms even as it struggles with the highest debt burden among advanced economies.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan's ruling party is trying to pass a fiscal budget against stiff political opposition. The budget plan cleared Japan's more powerful lower house of parliament early yesterday as the ruling Democrats try to enact it by the start of the fiscal year in April.
Under the Constitution, a budget bill passed by the lower house automatically becomes law if the upper house - now controlled by the opposition - does not vote on it within 30 days or votes it down.
The gridlock has made many Japanese disillusioned with politics and critical of Kan in particular. His approval rating fell below 20 percent in a recent Kyodo poll.
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