Japan economy’s vital signs dull in March

Japan reports that its manufacturing output and household spending fell in March, while the jobless rate remained at a 22-year low.

The data released generally were slightly weaker than analysts had forecast, though the outlook for the world’s third-largest economy remained upbeat, AP wrote. Here are a few highlights from the data, and their implications:

Industrial output fell 2.1 percent from February but was up 3.3 percent from the same month a year earlier. But manufacturers were forecasting an 8.9 percent increase in April.

Core inàation, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, rose 0.2 percent, well below the central bank’s of¿cial target of two percent but still the third straight month of increase.

Unemployment was unchanged from February at 2.8 percent, while the number of jobs available per worker seeking work rose to 1.45, the highest rate since November 1990.

Household spending fell 1.3 percent from the month before and 2.0 percent from March 2016, while household average incomes adjusted for inàation fell 1.1 percent from a year earlier. Anemic growth in wages and worries over future cuts to pensions and other social spending are constraining the consumer spending that drives growth in Japan.

Factory output: Inflation: Unemployment: Wages and household spending: