•  Developments in households’ employment and income situation: close attention should be paid to whether firms, in the face of intense competition, will increase wages by taking into account an improvement in corporate profits.
•  Effects of the consumption tax hikes:2 while the tax hikes will have adverse effects on households’ real disposable income, the adverse effects on consumption may be mitigated to some extent by (1) scheduled economic measures to be taken by the government, (2) the high probability that the tax hikes are already factored in among households, and (3) the positive effect of alleviating households’ future concerns over the fiscal condition and the social security system.