Japan retail sales fall for 10th month

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-29 11:01

TOKYO: Japan's retail sales fell for the 10th consecutive month in June, as a deteriorating job market led consumers to cut spending.

Retail sales fell 3 percent from a year earlier to 10.65 billion yen ($112.6 million), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Wednesday. The pace of decline accelerated for the first time since February, suggesting that government stimulus measures intended to boost spending have had a limited impact.

Large-scale outlets including department stores and supermarkets fared worse, with sales tumbling 5.1 percent for the 11th month of decline.

Recent signs indicate that the world's second-biggest economy is shaking off its steepest recession since World War II. Exports are rising, factories are boosting output, and companies are forecasting better earnings this year.

But economists worry that lackluster domestic demand, which accounts for more than half of Japan's economy, could send prices lower and undermine the nascent recovery.

Japan's unemployment rate hit 5.2 percent in May, its highest level in five and a half years. The ratio of job offers to job seekers hit 0.44, the lowest on record. The figure indicates that there were 44 positions available for every 100 job seekers.

Japan's worst jobless rate is 5.5 percent, last hit in April 2003.

The government will release industrial output data for June Thursday and the latest jobless figures on Friday.

Poor results will likely give more ammunition to Japan's opposition parties seeking to topple Prime Minister Taro Aso's ruling Liberal Democratic Party in national elections next month.

The main opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan, is critical of Aso's handling of the economy and has made protecting people's livelihoods a central part of its platform.