日本失业率再创新高

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This is very very bad news for the ruling party and I'll explain that in just a moment. Let's get to this breaking news. Figures that have just been released by Japan's government, the stunning figure is the unemployment rate for the month of July. Take a look at it. It is 5.7% for the month of July. That is a new record for Japan.

If you look at the last five months, we've seen a steady increase in the unemployment and the unemployment is really... this is a figure that is going to be in the background, as voters head to the polls. Unemployment and joblessness is a very big issue here in Japan, as this election happens.

Let's give two to the other figure that we are just getting from Japan's government. This is a very important figure. It is the CPI, break out of it, the consumer prices excluding fresh food down 2.2%. The reason this is important is because it addresses deflation, an issue that is very important to Japan because they've had The Lost Decade. Deflation and stagnation has been such a big issue here in Japan. So again this is the backdrop.

Let's also give you a look at...er...overall, the exports in Japan. Exports have been steadily declining between May and June. It did look like that the shedding of exports that might be improving. But again in July it does appear to be getting worse. And the reason why exports are important is because this is an export-driven economy. If the export market does not improve, then those jobs won't come back, and deflation continues to, then, be a big problem.

These are issues that the voters are gonna be dealing with and they are gonna to be thinking about foremost because these are kitchen table issues. These are the issues that really affect people, er, economically, very personally. And at this point what these people or the voters are looking for is that they are very disgruntled. They are looking for someone to pay politically. So the ruling party, the liberal, the LDP is looking at perhaps being ousted. Polls are showing that they could stand to lose some 300 out of 480 seats in Japan's government. That would be a political tsunami for Japan. A new political party would come into power. That has not happened since 2003. The LDP has been in control since 1955 except for ten months in 2003 to 2004.

So certainly appalling, this is not the news that the ruling party wanted, and economically these are continuing to be bad figures for the country of Japan.

Vocabulary:

1.       The Lost Decade: the time after the Japanese asset price bubble's collapse, which occurred gradually rather than catastrophically. The Lost Decade consists of the years 1991 to 2000.

2.       kitchen table issues: the sort of everyday concerns that confront ordinary folks on a daily basis. Traditional economic issues tend to the abstract: inflation rates, unemployment numbers, GDP growth, and the fluctuations of the stock market. But kitchen table issues comprise the concrete: bill paying, food purchases, tuition bills, vacation plans, and family heath care coverage.