Japan Household Spending Climbs 1.2% In February
The average of household spending in Japan advanced 1.2 percent on year in February, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Tuesday - standing at 269,774 yen.
That topped expectations for a decline of 1.9 percent following the 3.1 percent contraction in January.
The average of monthly income per household stood at 478,624 yen, down 2.4 percent on year.
The average of consumption expenditures per household was 297,662 yen, up an annual 1.8 percent.
Among the individual components, spending on education spiked 17.9 percent on year, followed by medical care (13.1 percent), communication (3.9 percent), food (3.3 percent) and recreation (1.8 percent).
Spending was down an annual 6.3 percent on clothing, 4.9 percent on furniture, 3.7 percent on housing and 3.2 percent on fuel.
Also on Tuesday:
. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that the unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 3.3 percent in February.
That was higher than forecasts for 3.2 percent, which would have been unchanged.
The job-to-applicant ratio was 1.28 - unchanged from the previous month but shy of expectations for 1.29.
The participation rate was 59.3 percent.
The number of employed persons in February was 63.51 million, an increase of 290,000 or 0.5 percent on year.
The number of unemployed persons in February was 2.13 million, a decrease of 130,000 or 5.8 percent on year.
. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said that retail sales were up 0.5 percent on year in February. That was well shy of expectations for an increase of 1.6 percent following the 0.2 percent decline in January.
Sales from large retailers advanced an annual 2.2 percent, beating forecasts for 1.6 percent following the 0.9 percent gain in the previous month.
On a monthly basis, retail sales slid a seasonally adjusted 2.3 percent - missing forecasts for a fall of 0.9 percent following the 0.4 percent contraction in January.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company - www.instaforex.com
