Tokyo  - Japan's consumer sentiment improved in March as people expected the nation's employment situations to slowly recover, the government said Friday.

The reading for consumer sentiment among households marked the largest gain since January 2007, up 2.2 percentage points to 28.9 from the month before.

Consumer sentiment "remains severe but is ceasing to deteriorate," the Cabinet Office said as it raised its assessment for the second month.

The office said consumer confidence showed improvement in March after prices of food and other daily necessities stabilized.(dpa)