Tourist arrivals in Japan fell 3.6% year-on-year to 3.6 million in May, marking the second consecutive month of decline, the Japan National Tourism Organization said Wednesday.
The number of visitors from China plunged 60.4%, while arrivals from Thailand dropped 8.6%.
Offsetting some of the weakness, visitor numbers from South Korea rose 15.2%, while arrivals from Taiwan and the U.S. increased 14.6% and 7%, respectively.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between India and the United Kingdom, which was signed last year, will come into effect on July 15, according to official statements from both sides released on Wednesday.Under the pact, the UK will provide zero-duty access to 99% of Indian products, while India has agreed to remove or reduce tariffs on 90% tariff lines, which will cover 92% of existing goods imports from the UK.The deal is expected to boost the UK's gross domestic product by 4.8 billion pounds sterling, real wages by 2.2 billion pounds, and bilateral trade by 25.5 billion pounds sterling every year in the long run.The two parties worked out the contentious issue of steel exports. India has secured protection for the majority of its steel exports to the UK under the agreement, with 85% of outbound shipments kept outside Britain's upcoming steel safeguard measures.For Indian consumers, the deal will make whisky cheaper with tariffs cut from 150% to 40%, automobiles from 100% to 10% under a quota, and cosmetics will see tariffs of up to 22% eliminated either from day one or after 10 years.The British government said businesses had 28 days to register in order to get the benefit of tariff reductions.
Job ads in Australia in May fell 0.8% month on month and 4.5% year on year, while applications per job ad rose 3.6% month on month and are now 5.5% higher year on year, according to a Thursday report by Seek.The report said references to artificial intelligence-related skills in job ads continue to grow, up 2.9% month on month and about 69% year on year, with the decline in overall job ad volumes weighted toward occupations with high automation exposure, which comprise less than 10% of job ads on Seek.Tasmania was the only state to record job ad growth in May, up 0.8%, while Western Australia was the only state to record annual growth at 0.4%, with all other states and territories recording a decline.Applications per job ad rose across the board, with the largest increases in Victoria and Queensland, both up 6.8% quarter on quarter, the report added.Ad volumes rose in engineering and science and technology, both up 2% month on month, and hospitality and tourism and legal, both up 0.1%. Engineering ads were up 16% year on year and science and technology up 7%, alongside growth in construction, mining, resources and energy, and manufacturing, transport and logistics.
Advertised salaries in Australia recorded a 0.3% month-on-month increase in May, pointing to sluggish growth in recent months, according to the SEEK Advertised Salary Index released on Thursday.The slowdown might indicate a "more challenging" business environment, SEEK Chief Economist Blair Chapman said.Annual advertised salary growth was steady at 4.1% year on year in May, remaining relatively strong but below the pace recorded over 2022 and 2023, per the report.