Spending by Japan's wage-earning households dropped a real 1 percent in April from a year earlier, the seventh straight monthly decline, the government said Friday.
The average monthly spending of wage-earning households came to 343,295 yen, the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications said in a preliminary report.
The average monthly income of such households dipped 2.6 percent from a year earlier to 473,191 yen in real terms for the 13th straight monthly decline.
Disposable income was down a real 0.6 percent to 391,680 yen.
Spending on culture and entertainment fell 4.6 percent in real terms, dragged down by a 64.0 percent fall in the number of overseas trips, largely due to the war in Iraq, a ministry official said.
Spending on food slid a real 1.9 percent, with the official noting spending on dining out fell for the sixth straight month.
But spending on education climbed 15.9 percent and that on health and medical care rose 5.7 percent, both in real terms.
Personal spending accounts for about 60 percent of Japan's gross domestic product and wage-earning households' outlays make up 60 percent of all household spending.