Retail sales across the nation fell in April for the eighth straight month as worsening job prospects and declining wages deterred shoppers.

Sales slid 2.9 percent from a year earlier after falling a revised 3.8 percent in March, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Wednesday. Economists in a survey predicted a 3.3 percent drop.

The recession is spreading to households, whose outlays account for more than half of the economy. Japan may struggle to return to a sustainable growth path as long as companies from Toyota Motor Corp. to Panasonic Corp. keep cutting jobs to minimize losses.