Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama attended a meeting of the Ministerial Council on Monthly Economic Report and Other Relative Issues, convened by the Chief Cabinet Secretary, at the Prime Minister's Office.

The Monthly Economic Report for January, released by the Cabinet Office, assesses the current state of the Japanese economy, stating that "Although the economy has been picking up, it is short of autonomous factors and remains in a difficult situation such as a high unemployment rate."

On prospects for the economy, it states "As for short-term prospects, although the employment situation remains severe, the economy is expected to pick up reflecting improvement in overseas economies and the effects of the Emergency Economic Measures. On the other hand, attention should be given to the risks that the economy is depressed by a further worsening of the employment situation, concerns over slowdown in overseas economies, and the influence of deflation."

The report further describes the government's policy stance. It states "The government implements policy management to realize stable economic growth mainly on the domestic demand that puts Japanese economy on the autonomous recovery path by expanding individual consumption by support of households and by producing industry and employment in a new field. The government promotes 'Measures of Emergency Employment' and 'Emergency Economic Countermeasures for Future Growth and Security.' The Government submitted the second supplementary budget for FY2009 to the Diet. The Government approved the 'Fiscal 2010 Economic Outlook and Basic Stance for Economic and Fiscal Management' on December 25th. The Government decided the 'New Growth Strategy (Basic Policies) - Toward a Radiant Japan -' on December 30th."