What matters is the mechanism underlying the economic recovery and not temporary factors, and the Bank judges that the virtuous cycle of economic activity remains firmly intact in both the household and corporate sectors. Let me first touch on the virtuous cycle in the household sector and then move on to the virtuous cycle in the corporate sector.
Household sector Looking at the environment facing the household sector, the labor market continues to improve steadily. The unemployment rate in July registered at 3.8 percent, while the active job openings-to-applicants ratio was 1.10, and both have thus returned to the levels prior to the global financial crisis (Chart 2).