Thus household income still seems to be on a gradual downtrend on average, and the employment and income situation of households overall remains severe. Turning to the economic outlook, it is fairly possible that the growth rate of overseas economies, especially that of the U.S. economy, will accelerate in the second half of this year.
However, as for the U.S. economy, although improvements have been observed in some recent economic indicators, careful examination is still required to judge to what extent business fixed investment and employment will increase following these developments. The pace of economic expansion in East Asia still remains slow compared to what it was a while ago, although there seem to be signs of recovery.