Japan's household spending drops 5.6% in September

Japan's household spending in September dropped a price-adjusted 5.6 percent from the previous year to 275,226 yen (2,517.9 dollars), marking the sixth consecutive monthly decline, government data showed Friday.
The drop, compared with August's 4.7 percent decline, underlined that spending by wage-earning households remains in deep freeze after the consumption tax rose to 8 percent from 5 percent on April 1.
The data, released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, also showed the income of salaried households fell a real 6.0 percent to an average 421,809 yen (3,856 dollars) for the 12th straight monthly slide.