首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
If Japan’s economy has been pulled steadily out of the slough into which it had fallen for more than a decade, Japan’s corporate
If Japan’s economy has been pulled steadily out of the slough into which it had fallen for more than a decade, Japan’s corporate
admin
2017-03-15
31
问题
If Japan’s economy has been pulled steadily out of the slough into which it had fallen for more than a decade, Japan’s corporate sector has been doing almost all the pulling. Ever since the recovery that began tentatively in 2003 started to look solid, economists have predicted that households would soon take over the running, by starting to spend again after years of deflation and tightened belts. Yet every prediction of a consumption boom has proved premature, causing some to question the sustainability of the recovery as a whole. In February deflation, which last year had been declared vanquished, even made an unwelcome return.
The corporate recovery, at least, has been remarkable. Companies have repaid huge amounts of debt incurred during the 1980s and 1990s. Demand for Japanese goods from overseas, notably China, gave the initial boost to company profits, which have grown for four consecutive years to record levels. Companies have ploughed back much of the cash they have earned into investment to replace neglected capital stock, from factory machines to computers to buildings. The latest quarterly Tankan survey of business prospects carried out by the central bank, the Bank of Japan, suggests that the recovery in capital expenditure is now spreading from big manufacturing companies to smaller ones, and from manufacturing into services. But sooner or later Japanese companies will have finished most of their upgrading, and worries about the American economy are growing among Japanese exporters, led by carmakers. The government also wants to cut its huge fiscal deficits: wise, perhaps, but this will dampen overall demand. All reasons to hope households will spend more.
The oddity is that they have not so far, at a time when companies have been eager hirers: unemployment has fallen to just 4%. The scramble among companies for the new graduates who began work this month made a stark contrast with the fate of unemployed graduates a few years ago. But flat consumption is explained by stagnant wages—indeed, in January and February total cash wages per worker actually fell by 1.1% compared with a year earlier.
Globalisation, combined with technological change, exerts downward pressure on wages. But other explanations are plausible. Jobs are shifting from manufacturing to lower-paid services. And younger workers, replacing a huge cohort of baby-boomers due to retire over the next three or four years, cannot command the salaries of their well-paid, portlier elders.
But wages—and hence consumption—must now be likely to grow. A further fall in the unemployment rate would bring it closer to the point where wage pressures accelerate. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, puts that critical point at unemployment of 2.5-3.5%, a range it expects to be reached towards the end of the year. Many newly hired workers were people who earlier this decade gave up hope of finding a job and who cannot afford to be too fussy now. But this return of "discouraged" workers may nearly have run its course.
What is more, companies have since 2005 once again been hiring more permanent workers than those on part-time contracts. Permanent workers get paid more. For instance, they are eligible for annual bonuses, which typically account for one-fifth of income. Bonuses are on the rise.
Moreover, thanks to those baby-boomers, retirement payments by companies, including traditional lump sums to the newly retired, are set to jump—from around¥10 trillion ($84 billion) last year to¥13.5 trillion in the fiscal year that began this month. Goldman Sachs guesses that will boost consumption by 0.3 percentage points a year. Camera shops, sellers of weekend fishing-boats and even restaurants report brisk business. Baby-boomers want to enjoy their coming leisure.
As for the return of deflation, there may be little cause for alarm. Prices fell in February by 0.1% compared with a year earlier, when measured by "core" consumer prices that include energy but exclude fresh food. But the fall was chiefly thanks to a drop in the price of oil-related goods and mobile-phone costs—hardly unwelcome trends to consumers. Besides, the official inflation measure is skewed downward by an unrepresentative calculation of housing costs. Elsewhere, price increases are spreading through service industries as demand slowly grows. Japan’s newly confident consumers may at last be about to make their presence felt.
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
选项
A、There is no doubt that household consumption will take the place of private sector in pulling Japanese economy.
B、It was private sector that pulled Japanese economy out of the slump.
C、Experts claimed that these was serious deflation last year but has been terminated.
D、There will not be serious economic setback this year thanks to household consumption and government buying.
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/QECYFFFM
本试题收录于:
NAETI高级口译笔试题库外语翻译证书(NAETI)分类
0
NAETI高级口译笔试
外语翻译证书(NAETI)
相关试题推荐
Fornearlyacentury,twoUnitedStatesgovernmentalagencies,theUnitedStatesArmyCorpsofEngineersandtheBureauofRecla
Fornearlyacentury,twoUnitedStatesgovernmentalagencies,theUnitedStatesArmyCorpsofEngineersandtheBureauofRecla
MycompanyisExcellentKitchenwareCompany,therenearbyisabigmarketforkitchenwareinourcity.
Thetheoryof"Asian________ofProduction"istheoreticalinnovationaboutthespecialdevelopmentrulesoforientalsocietiesf
Iwouldliketocommentontherelationshipbetweenthegrowthoftheworldeconomyandtheroleofmacroeconomicpolicies.Let
自1月27日至3月16日,我国有16个省(市、自治区)相继发生高致病性禽流感疫情,对人民群众的财产和健康安全构成严重威胁。面对突发疫情,党中央、国务院高度重视,紧急部署,及时启动防治高致病性禽流感应急预案,成立全国防治高致病性禽流感指挥部。//在党中央、国
Icameacrossanoldcountryguidetheotherday.Itlistedallthetradesmenineachvillageinmypartofthecountry,andit
A、IaminterestedinyournewtechniquesandIwanttomakeanappointment.B、Iwanttotalktoourtechniciantoseeifheisi
10年前,中国政府庄严宣告对香港恢复行使主权,香港特别行政区成立。香港回归祖国,实现了全国各族人民的百年夙愿,是彪炳中华民族史册的千秋功业。10年来,中央政府切实贯彻“一国两制”、“港人治港”、高度自治的方针。广大香港同胞团结奋进,克服了亚洲金融危机、非典
A、Hethoughtitwasveryspecial.B、HethoughteverybodyinCanadawasinterestedineating.C、Hethoughtitwasthesameasthe
随机试题
属于生化评估的内容是
治膏淋当首选
患儿,10岁。发育正常,无明显症状。听诊于胸骨左缘2、3肋间Ⅱ级收缩期杂音,心电图显示右心室肥厚及不完全性右束支传导阻滞。本例可能的诊断
证券的基本特征表现在()。
认证合格有效期满前,如企业愿继续延长,可向认证机构提出()。
公安执法监督的内容是公安机关及其人民警察在执行职务活动中()。
Ifitistruethatmoralitycannotexistwithoutreligion,thendoesnottheerosionofreligionheraldthe______ofmorality?
设A(一1,0,4),π:3x一4y+z+10=0,L:,求一条过点A与平面π平行,且与直线L相交的直线方程.
E1信道的数据速率是(15),其中的每个话音信道的数据速率是(16)。
MostpeoplewhodevelopLymedisease,atick-borninfectionthat’sendemicinpartsoftheNortheastandMidwest,areeasilycur
最新回复
(
0
)