The manufacturing industry is the driving force behind the economic recovery if it is led by exports and production. But, to achieve sustainable growth, it is critically important whether such an initial recovery will lead to the dynamic and forward-looking improvement of the nonmanufacturing industry.
The problem of excess labor is important when we judge whether the recovery of the corporate sector might lead to an increase in private consumption through a rise in income. The Tankan (Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan) has been showing a consistent pattern of excess labor for both the manufacturing and nonmanufacturing industry since the bursting of the bubble economy.