In addition, the number of employees, which widely covers various non-regular employees such as temporary workers, appears to have stopped declining gradually. However, as firms are still maintaining their stance on reducing personnel expenses, household income continues to decrease noticeably due to, among other factors, an ongoing decline in wages. Thus, the employment and income situation of households overall remains severe.
Turning to the economic outlook, a widely shared prospect for the overseas economy throughout next year is that it will follow a gradual recovery path. However, economic indicators in the United States and in some other regions are soft on the whole. Based on this development, the recovery in the overseas economy is likely to be anemic at least for the time being.