Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) — Japan’s jobless rate rose for a second
month and retail sales dropped, underscoring the challenge for incoming Prime
Minister Yoshihiko Noda in securing Japan’s recovery from the March 11
earthquake.
The unemployment rate rose to 4.7 percent in July as payrolls
fell by 40,000 from a month earlier, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo.
Retail sales slid a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent from June, a Trade Ministry
report showed.
Noda, who was elected premier by the lower house of parliament
today, inherits a recovery under threat from an advancing yen and a global
slowdown. A weakening economy will complicate his task of funding the next
reconstruction package, according to economist Yoshimasa Maruyama.
“Today’s reports show Japan’s recovery is leveling off in the
middle of the post-earthquake rebound,” said Maruyama, a senior economist at
Itochu Corp. in Tokyo. “Noda wants to raise taxes next fiscal year but that may
have to be postponed. The economy won’t be strong enough.”
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