the contribution from the change in prime - aged ( 20 – 59 ) and older ( 60 + ) workers is calculated equivalently. the contribution from female participation is calculated by multiplying the increase in female participation beyond the change in the male participation rate by the share of females in the working age population. bis central bankers ’ speeches discouraged from seeking work and no longer participate in the workforce. a recent example of cyclical impact is canterbury, where the strong rebuild activity encouraged additional workers to join the labour force. participation in canterbury rose from 67 percent at end - 2011 to around 72 percent at the end of 2015, 4 percentage points above the rest of the country. 10 research underway at the bank has identified there are large flows of people from outside the labour force directly into employment. this flow from non - participation into employment is much higher than that witnessed in other countries. 11 around two thirds of the newly employed – those who are employed in the current quarter but who were not employed in the previous quarter – come from non - participation, while only a third of the newly employed were unemployed in the previous quarter. one implication is that participation is potentially more sensitive to cyclical variation than previously thought. another is that the unemployment rate is a weaker indicator of labour market slack and inflationary pressure than previously assumed. i will return to the measurement of slack later. population in recent years, the main driver of population growth has been immigration, which is running at its highest rate for a century ( figure 4 ). net immigration has added about 130, 000 people ( 3. 5 percent ) to the working age population in the past three years, and is projected to add a further 120, 000 by 2018. given its importance, i want to explain how migration affects the economy. the canterbury rebuild is discussed in more detail in wood, a, noy, i and parker, m ( 2016 ) “ the canterbury rebuild five years on from the christchurch earthquake ”, reserve bank of new zealand bulletin, 79 ( 3, february ). see, for example, elsby, m, bart hobijn, b and sahin, a ( 2013 ), “ on the importance of the participation margin for market fluctuations ”, federal reserve bank of san francisco working paper series, 2013 – 05 and gomes, p ( 2009 ), “ labour market flows : facts from the united kingdom, bank of england working paper, 367. bis central bankers ’ speeches migration increases aggregate demand in the economy. new arrivals

the pingan group in china, and other singapore institutional investors will be collaborating with chongqing financial assets exchange to help micro finance companies issue debt overseas. second, diversifying funding channels for outbound chinese corporates. 3 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches singapore can support the financing needs of chinese companies expanding into southeast asia and beyond. take for example, the new hope group, an agricultural and food processing company based in western china. it has been raising funds in singapore for its overseas expansion. or companies such as chongqing western modern logistics industry zone development construction and chongqing grain group. they have issued close to s $ 1 billion of bonds from singapore. bond issuance by chinese issuers in singapore almost doubled in 2017 to reach s $ 18 billion. more than 25 % of this amount was issued by first - time chinese issuers in singapore. singapore ’ asian bond grant scheme will help such first - time issuers by offsetting a part of their typical issuance costs. haier group, a leading chinese consumer electronics player, benefitted from this scheme when it issued a us $ 1 billion perpetual debt security in singapore. third, enhancing risk management for chinese firms. chongqing and singapore can explore joint projects to mitigate the economic impact of natural catastrophe risks in the western region. one example is through piloting a natural catastrophe insurance pool. similar initiatives are underway in southeast asia – and we could share experiences. in may this year, asean + 3 finance ministers agreed to establish the southeast asia disaster risk insurance facility ( “ seadrif ” ), which provides disaster risk financing, and a regional catastrophe risk insurance pool for participating asean member states. similarly, chinese investors and developers in belt and road projects who are facing unfamiliar legal, credit, and environmental risks in southeast asian markets, can leverage on the insurance expertise in singapore to help manage these risks. a good example is the belt and road insurance consortium that was formed in singapore last year. comprising both chinese and singapore insurers, it serves as an avenue to jointly develop insurance solutions to meet the risk management needs of chinese developers and contractors. the consortium aims to provide integrated insurance solutions across multiple countries, including for construction, project cargo, 2 political risk and structured trade credit. thus far, the consortium has pledged us $ 1. 2 billion in insurance capacity for construction and project cargo risks. it has insured four projects, in vietnam, indonesia, turkey and pakistan. fourth, strengthening fintech collaboration. there is great scope to