Looking forward, however, production is expected to remain flat for a while, mainly because the accelerated production of automobiles to make up for the disruption caused by the Niigata-ken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake in July 2007 is coming to an end. Nevertheless, production is likely to resume its upward momentum, given that levels of inventories and shipments are essentially well in balance.
Business fixed investment is also likely to follow an uptrend, as firms are not under pressure to adjust production capacity or employment. 2  BIS Review 22/2008  Let me now turn to developments in the household sector. Nominal wages per worker have been somewhat weak, but moderate growth in employee income is continuing, supported by an increase in the number of employees.