Japan household spending falls 2.5% in August on rising prices

Japan's household spending in August dropped 2.5 percent from a year earlier, declining for the sixth consecutive month, as rising prices prompted people to cut back on food and education-related outlays, government data showed Friday.Households of two or more people spent an average of 293,161 yen ($1,975), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. The rate of decline was smaller than the 5.0 percent in July.The continued weakness in spending came as real wages dropped 2.5 percent in August for the 17th consecutive month of decline, as the impact of rising prices outweighed…READ FULL ARTICLE