(Wraps data with BOJ summary of opinions, analyst quote, detail)
* June household spending +2.3 pct yr/yr vs forecast +0.6 pct
* Nationwide core CPI +0.4 pct yr/yr in June, matches f'cast
* July Tokyo core CPI +0.2 pct yr/yr, fastest since 2015
* Jobless rate 2.8 pct in June, job availability at 43-yr high
* Data points to Q2 GDP expansion, inflation way off BOJ target
By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Stanley White
TOKYO, July 28 (Reuters) - Japanese household spending hit its highest for two years in June as unemployment fell and job availability reached a 43-year peak, official figures showed, but inflation gave little sign of getting much closer to the Bank of Japan's price target.
Indicating that the tightening labour market has yet to fuel inflation, core consumer price gains held steady in June, government data showed on Friday, undermining the BOJ's arguments that tightness in labour markets will force companies to raise wages and prices soon.
The data also reinforced convictions that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will lag behind other major central banks in pulling back its massive stimulus.
A summary of opinions from the BOJ's July 19-20 meeting, also published on Friday, stated it saw the main reason inflation had been slow to pick up was low commodity prices and weak consumer spending - a factor Friday's data suggests may be changing.
At that meeting, the central bank left monetary policy steady but once again delayed the timing for hitting its price goal, as stagnant wages and disappointing private consumption have hindered hoped-for price gains since it launched a massive stimulus drive in 2013.
Given Friday's data, optimism on consumption and consumer prices could start to spread, but many economists would argue that the BOJ's revised timing of around fiscal 2019 for meeting its 2 percent inflation target remains unrealistic.
"The key point is that inflation is set to remain well below the Bank of Japan's lofty forecasts even after it lowered them in its latest outlook report," Marcel Thieliant, senior Japan economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a report.
"Policy tightening remains a long way off."
STEADY GROWTH, WEAK INFLATION
Japan's economy expanded at an annualised 1.0 percent at the start of this year, posting a fifth straight quarter of growth on robust exports and a pick-up in private consumption.
News that household spending rose annual 2.3 percent in the year to June was an encouraging sign for private consumption, which comprises some 60 percent of the economy.
It handily beat economists' median forecast for a 0.6 percent gain, posting the first annual increase in 16 months and the biggest year-on-year gain since August 2015.