Economic Update

1. Economic Update November 2000 Economics 285 Michael Smitka

3. Recent Macro Growth

4. Summary of the September 2000 Labor Force Survey[31 Oct. 2000] Employment -- Fell 0.5%. Unemployment -- Rose 30 thousand to 4.7%. ------------------------------------------------------------Population 15+ yrs old 108,460,000 +490,000 +0.5%Labor force 68,000,000 -310,000 -0.5% Employed 64,800,000 -340,000 -0.5% Unemployed 3,200,000 +30,000 +0.9%Not in labor force 40,340,000 +820,000 +2.1%Participation rate 62.7% -0.6% -Unemployment rate 4.7% +0.1% -

5. Deflation

6. Consumer Price Changes Ku-area of Tokyo, October 2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------ | Index Change from Change from | previous month previous year -----------------------------------+------------------------------- Ten Major Group Index General | 100.8 +0.2 -1.2 (excluding imputed rent) | 100.9 +0.1 -1.1 (excluding fresh food ) | 100.9 -0.1-1.0 Food | 100.1 +0.5 -2.2 Housing | 99.6 +0.0 -1.4 Fuel, light & water | 101.1 -1.3 +0.5 Furniture & household | 89.9 -0.2-2.5 Clothes & footwear | 105.0 +0.0 -0.6 Medical care | 112.8 +0.0 +0.0 Transport/communication | 99.1 -0.2-0.6 Education | 108.8 +0.0 +0.9 Reading and recreation | 99.0 +0.8 -1.5 Miscellaneous | 103.3 +0.1 -0.1 Commodity and Service Group Index Commodities | 99.0 +0.2 -1.4 Services | 102.2 +0.1 -1.0 --------------------------------------------------------------

7. Interest Rates Current lending rates: Short-term prime rate: 1.5% Long-term prime rate: 2.25%

8. Credit Creation & Money

9. Fiscal Policy Measures

10. Consumption is Falling!

11. Retail Sales are Falling

12. Only Items Up:Consumer Electronics & Foreign Travel But Foreign Travel Doesn’t Help GDP!

13. Japanese Land Prices +20% 0%

14. Stock market