Japan Economics Weekly Shunto pay hikes still too small to lift inflation to 2% The early results from this year’s spring wage negotiations confirm that the tight labour market has boosted wage pressure. However, this year’s overall increase in labour income will likely still... 20th March 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Overtime hours point to lingering job market slack Judging by the unemployment rate alone, the labour market is tight, vindicating the Bank of Japan’s view that price pressure has strengthened since the launch of QQE. But other measures, such as the... 13th March 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Export strength unlikely to last There are some reasons to believe that the recent strength in export volumes is the result of improvements in competitiveness linked to currency weakness. However, the trade data tend to be volatile... 6th March 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Electricity prices to remain high The recent plunge in the price of energy has reduced the cost advantage of nuclear relative to thermal electricity generation, and rendered a rapid restart of Japan’s nuclear reactors increasingly... 27th February 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Stabilising public debt remains a daunting task The Bank of Japan continues to express confidence in its ability to meet its 2% inflation target. But even that would probably not be enough to reduce the public debt burden. In a best-case scenario... 18th February 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Can educated women save Japan? Efforts to bring more women into Japan’s labour market have enjoyed success in recent years.However, it remains the case that relatively few educated women are in paid work. We estimatethat lifting... 6th February 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly BoJ pinning hopes on strong Shunto wage deal A strong rise in base pay in the spring wage negotiations (Shunto) would help convince the Bank of Japan that the current weakness in inflation will prove temporary. A tight labour market and strong... 30th January 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Limited demand boost from cheaper oil The plunge in crude oil prices since last summer will reduce the cost of Japan’s energy imports by around 2.5% of GDP in the near term. However, much of the windfall will be saved and the boost to... 23rd January 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Fading fiscal headwind to bolster demand Despite surging tax revenues, we doubt that the government will reach its target of halving the primary deficit in the coming fiscal year. However, fading fiscal drag should at least ensure that the... 16th January 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly How much lower will unemployment get? The unemployment rate has fallen below the level consistent with stable price pressure in recent months. It is unlikely to fall much further, as the pool of attractive job candidates is drying up... 9th January 2015 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly What should we expect in 2015? Wage growth is set to remain sluggish next year and, with households also likely to be trying to rebuild their savings, we expect consumer spending to be subdued. In turn, this suggests that GDP... 19th December 2014 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Lower energy prices likely to rattle policymakers In terms of the boost to corporate and household spending power, Japan should be among the big winners from the fall in global energy prices. However, for policymakers, the resulting drag on inflation... 5th December 2014 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly “Pricing to market” not the whole story Japanese exporters commonly “price to market”, meaning they don’t allow the impact of exchange rate shifts to feed through fully into the prices paid by their foreign customers. This has become an... 28th November 2014 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Has Abenomics failed? To some, the continued fall in output last quarter is proof that Abenomics has failed. However, the economy has actually done fairly well over the past two years considering the strong demographic... 21st November 2014 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly Delay in sales tax hike no reason to cheer The question of whether to go ahead with next year’s sales tax hike will remain in the spotlight with Monday’s release of the Q3 GDP data, which Prime Minister Abe previously said would inform his... 14th November 2014 · 1 min read
