lots of resources are left unused. but the biggest and most disturbing answer is our fellow americans. there are many productive people in the united states available to work more hours, and our society is deprived of their production. this key point is generally underappreciated. i ’ ve said that the fomc is undershooting its price stability objective and is expected to continue to do so. but we should all keep in mind that this outcome – and especially the forecast for continued undershooting – typically means that the fomc is also underperforming on its other objective of promoting maximum employment. maximum employment i ’ ve argued that the low inflation rate is a signal that the fomc is underperforming with respect to its maximum employment objective. but we don ’ t need to rely on this signal to reach this conclusion. we can readily see this underperformance in numerous key metrics of labor market performance. i ’ ll begin by showing you data on the evolution of the unemployment rate. in march 2007, the unemployment rate was 4. 4 percent. it rose slowly throughout 2007 to reach 5 percent by the end of the year. the national bureau of economic research dates the great recession as having begun in that month. in the wake of the recession, the unemployment rate reached a peak of 10 percent in october 2009. since that date – over four years ago! – the unemployment rate has fallen slowly to 6. 7 percent. this is still unusually high relative to the past quarter century or so. the current unemployment rate is also high relative to most forecasts of its expected long - run level. personally, i expect that, over the long run, the unemployment rate will converge to just over 5 percent. basically, an unemployment rate of 6. 7 percent means that the u. s. labor market is far from healthy. bis central bankers ’ speeches but i would say that this measure – troubling as it is – could well overstate the degree of improvement in the u. s. labor market. to estimate the unemployment rate, the census bureau asks people two questions : are you working? and, if not, have you looked for work in the past four weeks? the unemployment rate measures the ratio of the second number – the recent job searchers – to the sum of the two numbers ( the recent job searchers and the workers ). this means that the unemployment rate can decline for two reasons : because more people are finding work or because

tharman shanmugaratnam : enterprise innovation - improving lives in singapore and technological speech by mr tharman shanmugaratnam, chairman of the monetary authority of singapore, at the fintech awards, singapore, 17 november 2016. * * * mr wee ee cheong, chairman, abs and ceo, uob distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, 1 thank you for joining us here at our inaugural fintech awards prize presentation ceremony. 2 let me begin by thanking the participating teams, as well as the international cast of judges who helped evaluate the entries, for their time and inspiring work. 3 this evening, we are honouring winners from two competitions organised as part of the inaugural singapore fintech festival : the global fintech hackcelerator and the fintech awards. the global fintech hackcelerator attracted a total of 655 submissions from more than 50 countries. they produced solutions to address some of the 100 problem statements that the financial sector had put out. the fintech awards recognises innovative fintech solutions that have actually been implemented by financial sector players and technology companies. we received 210 entries, running the gamut from cyber security to payments. 4 we celebrate the winning entries this evening. but equally, we are celebrating the spirit of innovation that each of the participants in these competitions demonstrated. they represent the passion to make things better, to create value for firms in a way that gives customers value, and ultimately, to find innovative ways to improve everyday life. that is the fintech spirit. 5 these last four days of the fintech festival, there has been much discussion about technology, regulation, infrastructure, markets, funding. 6 tonight, i would like to speak briefly on the critical people factor – not just for success in fintech but more broadly in the innovation - driven economy of tomorrow : people having that spirit of enterprise and a willingness to be different ; and people developing deep skills, skills relevant to the market, and a keenness to learn continuously. 7 that ’ s at the heart of what it takes for us to sustain and grow the fintech movement – the entrepreneurial desire to find new ways, even disruptive ways, and the deep skills and continuous learning that we need to power innovation. enterprise and innovation 8 we are already seeing successes, and we want to provide a fertile ground for more new ideas and solutions to keep cropping up. mas has a regulatory sandbox framework to make it easier for fintech start - ups to test their business