Japan's unemployment rate jumped unexpectedly in July while prices and consumer spending continued to decline, raising a note of doubt on the strength of the economic recovery here.
Japan's unemployment rate rose for the first time this year, jumping to 4.9 percent for July from 4.6 percent for June. Economists had expected the rate to remain unchanged. Spending by households of salaried workers fell 2.5 percent in July from a month earlier, the third consecutive monthly decline.
"These numbers were generally on the weak side of expectations, so it does raise the question of whether economic growth was as strong as the market would portray," said Ryo Hino, an economist for J.P. Morgan in Tokyo.
A report earlier this month showed that Japan's economy grew at an unexpectedly weak annual rate of 1.7 percent in the second quarter, sharply slowing from 6.6 percent in the first quarter and 7.4 percent in the last quarter of last year.
Still, Hino and other economists cautioned against reading too much into Friday's figures because other recent data, in particular strong exports and corporate profits, suggest Japan's recovery remains intact even if growth has backed off the torrid pace seen earlier this year.
Traders seemed to share that view. Stock prices initially declined on the reports, but Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average recovered to close up 0.7 percent, at 11,209.59.
Government officials and economists said the jump in the July unemployment rate was mostly a result of an increase in the number of job seekers as the improved economy drew people who had given up looking for work back into the job market. Some 90,000 new jobs were created in July, not nearly enough to absorb an increase of 320,000 entrants to the labor force.
"The economic recovery may be prompting people to look for new or better jobs, and is one reason the unemployment rate temporarily rose," Michio Matsumura, a statistics bureau official, told reporters, according to Bloomberg News.
The drop in household spending in July was also worse than expected. The decline came as a surprise to economists, who expected unusually hot summer weather to help spending. While sales of air-conditioners and beer have been rising, the increases were not enough to offset declines in spending on housing and entertainment.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last