Salaried workers' households spent less in January than they did a year earlier for the sixth consecutive month, the Management and Coordination Agency said Tuesday.
Wage-earning households spent an average of 332,927 yen in January, down 3 percent in real terms from a year earlier, according to a survey of 4,734 families.
The figures mark the longest period of decline since the seven-month period beginning October 1997 to April 1998. During this period, instability in Japan's financial system stemming from bankruptcies of major financial institutions -- including Yamaichi Securities Co. and Hokkaido Takushoku Bank -- hit the economy hard, an agency official said.
The size of the fall in January was down from the 4.7 percent fall recorded in December.
Salaried workers' households account for roughly 60 percent of total household spending in Japan.
Their average income fell a real 2.5 percent to 458,997 yen for the seventh consecutive month of decline.
Disposable income, or income after tax, social security and other nonconsumption expenses, dropped a real 1.5 percent to 383,514 yen.
Output rises 0.9%
Japan's industrial output increased 0.9 percent in January from the previous month due to strong production of personal computers, lithium ion storage batteries, railway cars and steel for export, according to a government report released Tuesday.
The seasonally adjusted index of industrial production reached 102.7 against a 100-point benchmark based on 1995 figures, according to preliminary results released by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
Although the gradual upward trend for overall production continued and inventory adjustment was mostly completed, MITI officials said sluggish consumer demand slowed down further increases.
Meanwhile, January shipments also rose 2.3 percent.