With an increase in the number of employees, employee income has been rising in the 2–3 percent range. Amid the steady improvement in the employment and income situation, private consumption has been resilient as a trend, and the effects of the decline in demand following the front-loaded increase have been waning on the whole.
Moving on to the corporate sector, some weakness in production has remained, but there are prospects for further progress in inventory adjustments – mainly in industries relating to the  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  production of durable consumer goods including automobiles, as well as to housing – by the end of the year.