BOJ governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, is still speaking
- Does not think that there are big side effects as a result of BOJ easing policies
- Inflation is still far from the 2% target
- Wage growth is weak compared to labour market tightness
On his final point, there is a real concern there for Japan even with the unemployment rate being at the lowest level since the early 90's and also with the job-to-applicants ratio being at the highest levels since the 70's:
The ratio of 1.57 indicates that for every 100 job openings, there are 157 job applicants seeking to apply for a working position. And yet, all of this has failed to spur wage growth and inflation pressures in the Japanese economy.
There is no doubt that the corporate mindset plays a big role in all of this but with conditions as they are now and yet there is still no meaningful rise in inflation, there is a high chance that things will never fall into place for the BOJ - like ever, more so when you consider the aging population and demographic shift in Japan.
