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Japan’s wage hikes will expand income gaps

Location:

JAPAN

Elevating stagnant wages is Tokyo’s top priority and anti-deflation tool, necessary in creating a virtuous cycle of rising prices and incomes that boosts economic growth.

Wages weigh on Japan’s monetary policymaking

Location:

JAPAN

The time may be right to move on from what was designed to combat deflation, and attention is being given to wages for guidance. However, rising prices are not feeding through…

Foreign workers will ease Japan’s labour shortage

Location:

JAPAN

Near-stagnation in wages is difficult to reconcile with reports of a very tight labour market in which firms struggle to hire. The answer lies partly in much higher levels of…

Immigration is key to US job market and economic plans

Location:

UNITED STATES

Behind this workforce expansion is higher immigration that has allowed considerably more new jobs without raising real wages. Immigration explains some of the strength in…

No end in sight for Japan’s economic stagnation

Location:

JAPAN

Lower household consumption, residential investment and companies’ capital investment all contributed to the 2.9% (annualised) contraction. Although inflation is decelerating…

ECB and Fed to delay rate cuts to sustain disinflation

Location:

EU/US

Disinflation is underway on both sides of the North Atlantic, but it is not yet deeply entrenched, giving both central banks a reason to delay cuts. The ECB must contend with…

High employment and low wages will curb Russian growth

Location:

RUSSIA

In defiance of expectations following the imposition of severe sanctions, the unemployment rate has hovered around 3.2%. Yet rather than a sign of resilience, low unemployment…

Rapid recovery will prove elusive in Argentina

Location:

ARGENTINA

The primary surplus (0.6% of GDP) was driven by a 35% real fall in primary spending, which offset a recession-induced 4.5% drop in revenues. Month-on-month inflation has also…

Early Argentine economic successes are unsustainable

Location:

ARGENTINA

The government has posted the first fiscal surplus in years, inflation has declined and foreign currency reserves have risen from USD21.0bn in mid-December to USD28.5bn. However…

Varying economic performance metrics muddy the outlook

Location:

UNITED STATES

Estimates of income rather than output, of household rather than firms' employment, and of real rather than nominal wages often diverge, but the gap has widened since the…