TOKYO, May 1 (Reuters) - Japan's overall household spending fell 0.4 percent in March from a year earlier in price-adjusted real terms, government data showed on Friday, less than the median market forecast for a 2.5 percent decrease.
Japanese households have trimmed spending as companies cut jobs amid the global financial crisis, although data on Thursday showed signs that a plunge in industrial output and exports may be nearing an end.
Compared with February on a seasonally adjusted basis, spending fell 0.2 percent.
The average household spent 310,680 yen ($3,186), the data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed.
Spending by wage earners' households rose 0.7 percent in March from the same month a year earlier. (Reporting by Stanley White)