/www.bloomberg.com/ By Yoshiko Matsushita
Tokyo, Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese household spending rose for the first time in three months in September as consumers spent more on transportation, telecommunications, clothing and entertainment. The rebound probably won't last, economists said.
Spending rose 5.1 percent from the month before, seasonally adjusted, following a 1.7 percent decline in August, the government statistics bureau said. From a year earlier, spending rose 5.4 percent. Economists had expected a 3.5 percent rise.
Consumer spending, which makes up 55 percent of Japan's economy, has been hurt as companies such as Advantest Corp. cut jobs and wages. Consumers are likely to reduce spending further as the government pushes lenders to write off more of their 52.4 trillion yen ($429 billion) in bad loans, forcing borrowers into bankruptcy.
``Consumer spending is likely to remain weak for the time being,'' said Yasukazu Shimizu, a senior economist at Aozora Bank Ltd. ``We won't see any rebound in spending anytime soon.''
Companies are cutting jobs as slumping exports threaten to throw Japan back into recession for a fourth time in a decade. Japan's economy grew 0.6 percent in the second quarter, the first gain in more than a year.
Advantest Corp., the world's biggest maker of memory-chip testing equipment, said it planned to cut 600 jobs after posting a loss in the six months to Sept. 30. Equipment sales will probably fall in the fiscal second-half, the company said.
A probable rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve later today may signal more bad news for Japan, suggesting a slowdown in the world's biggest economy and No. 1 market for Japanese exports.
Japan's unemployment rate held at 5.4 percent for a fifth month in September, just shy of December's record 5.5 percent. Cash earnings -- including salary, overtime pay and bonuses -- of employees at companies with five or more workers fell 1 percent in September from a year earlier, following a 3 percent decline in August, a separate government report showed.
The September gain was partially offset by declines in spending on education and food.