Japan’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest in 16 years in May.<br /><br />It was 3.5 percent of the workforce – a level Japan’s central bank considers to be near full employment. <br /><br />At the same time, the availability of jobs rose to its highest level since 1992.<br /><br />That suggests the world’s third-largest economy will rebound in the third quarter from a slump in consumer spending following a sales tax increase to eight percent from five percent.<br /><br />As the jobs numbers were released we learned Japan’s household spending fell eight percent in the year to May, linked to the sales tax hike. <br /><br />The bigger than expected drop was due mainly to a pull-back in spending on housing, cars and household appliances – all of which saw a surge in demand before the sales tax went up on April 1.<br /><br />People did spend more on items such as television sets, personal computers and clothing in May. Spending on eating out also stopped falling.<br /><br />with Reuters
