The survey seeks to gain a quick understanding of shifts in consumer perception amongst one-person households, service expenditure, and the state of the possession and purchasing of principle consumer durables, as a tool in evaluating the direction of the economy.
The 10.7 million one-person households nationwide, excluding students.
1,300 one-person households selected on a three-level stratified random sampling of city, town and village; local unit; and household.
The first day of June, September, December, and March of the subsequent fiscal year.
The prime minister is in charge, and delegates the conducting of the survey to the Shin Joho Center. The households to be surveyed are selected by the researchers, and the households themselves complete the survey.
(1) Consumer perception
(2) The state of the purchasing and possession of principle consumer durables (research on possession of durables is conducted in March only)
(3) Travel - journeys made or planned
(4) Expenditure plans on services, hobbies or leisure
(5) State of the household (questions about the respondent)
The items below were revised from the June 2001 survey.
(1) Consumer perceptions of the following five categories are surveyed: overall livelihood; income growth; prices; employment; willingness to buy durable goods.
Respondents are asked to evaluate on a scale of one to five what they consider the prospects for the five subjects over the next six months.
(2) Points are then allotted in accordance with the one-to-five scale for each category based on the anticipated effects on consumption. The consumer perception index is calculated by computing the weighted average of the points of the results (component ratio).
(3) The consumer confidence index (seasonally unadjusted figure) is then calculated by simply averaging the five consumer perception indexes (seasonally unadjusted figures).