jerome h powell : opening remarks opening remarks by mr jerome h powell, chair of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the gender and the economy conference, a symposium hosted by the division of consumer and community affairs, board of governors of the federal reserve system, washington, d. c., ( via webcast ), 8 november 2021. * * * good morning. i am pleased to welcome everyone to today ’ s conference on gender and the economy. thank you for being here, for participating, and for lending your expertise on this important topic. we have gathered an impressive lineup of speakers and panelists, who will address a range of timely and important issues. to open the conference, i will give a brief tour of the important research on display here, then discuss how the pandemic has affected the economy along gender lines. research the speakers and panelists will be exploring a wide range of topics, from a historical review of gender issues and the economy to how someone ’ s education options — and the financing of those choices — affect that person ’ s early career and financial stability. speakers and panelists will also be looking at the influence of family and caregiving on career advancement and will discuss timely topics of wealth and retirement. the pandemic and gender the pandemic widened deep - rooted inequities in our economy. along racial, gender, and socioeconomic lines, those least able to bear it, unfortunately, were those who were most affected. women make up the majority of frontline workers, who have been under substantial strain — and subject to personal risks — during the pandemic. additionally, women took on the majority of caring responsibilities, for older relatives and children alike. as schools closed and childcare services shuttered during the worst of the pandemic, that added responsibility and stress made working more difficult for some and took many away from their jobs. these burdens are real and have been an additional challenge during an already challenging time. in a reversal of previous recessions, women suffered more from job losses in the covid - 19 recession than men. in april 2020, the unemployment rate for women was 16. 1 percent, compared with 13. 6 percent for men. the gap persisted until september of that year, and while it has since reversed, it does not account for the many women who left the workforce entirely. 1 increased childcare responsibilities during the pandemic also affected many parents ’ working lives. mothers of small children

the $ 225 million committed in 2015 for fsti, we have utilised half the amount. i am pleased to announce that mas will roll over the unutilised portion and augment it with additional funds to make a fresh commitment of $ 250 million for the next 3 years under fsti 2. 0. let me share with you three key enhancements under fsti 2. 0, taking onboard industry feedback first, fsti 2. 0 will encourage the expansion of the existing innovation labs and further develop singaporean talent in fintech and innovation. the innovation lab grant under fsti 2. 0 will co - fund 50 % of the salaries of incremental singaporean hires for a period of 2 years. second, fsti 2. 0 will encourage more experimentation and early - stage development of novel solutions in the industry by enhancing the poc grant. we will double the funding cap of the poc grant from $ 200, 000 to $ 400, 000. this will support pocs that are larger in scale and more complex in nature. we will also introduce a merit - based tiered funding approach. if your proposal manages to secure unanimous votes from the evaluation panel, you will have access to 70 % funding support, up to a quantum cap of $ 400, 000. this is enhanced from current fsti parameters of 50 % funding support, up to a quantum cap of $ 200, 000. third, fsti 2. 0 will seek to accelerate large - scale adoption of ai solutions in the financial industry while supporting workers through the transformation brought about by ai. we will increase the maximum funding quantum for the aida grant from s $ 1 million to s $ 1. 5 million per ai project. we will introduce a new aida - lite track to support financial institutions adopting existing ai solutions in the market. we will require all aida applicants to work with the institute of banking and finance ( ibf ) to actively look out for at - risk workers impacted by ai adoption, and to develop a training plan to keep them employable. to sum up, the enhanced fsti 2. 0 renews and anchors mas ’ resolve to support the financial industry in its journey … a journey of continued innovation and experimentation ; deepening our local talent pool in new technologies ; and 4 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches better serving our societies – here in singapore and across the world. 5 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches