for remotely accessing goods and services. this essential service is often unavailable or considered a luxury in many rural and lower - income urban communities. data from the census bureau show that only about 65 percent of households in both rural and lower - income counties pay to have a subscription to internet services, compared with the national average of about 80 percent. 7 a report from the federal reserve bank of philadelphia also found income - and race - related gaps in both broadband availability and adoption rates across neighborhoods in philadelphia. 8 internet access has become necessary for those looking for a job, and, not surprisingly, the unemployment rate for those without a computer connected to the internet was about 3 percentage points higher than the unemployment rate for those with a computer with internet access. investing in the infrastructure to increase broadband availability and to support broadband adoption in these communities could help close the employment gaps. additionally, it can help level the playing field for children attending school, open opportunities for adults to pursue more stable and better - paying jobs and online education, and also enable access to online banking and other internet - based financial services. in summary, it seems clear that much progress remains to be made in these areas. the federal reserve is committed to supporting the economic recovery and will do so through our monetary policy tools, supervisory responsibilities, and community development function. i ’ m looking forward to seeing how the opportunities from your collaborations and the creative solutions arising from this summit will help support vulnerable communities in adapting to and recovering 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches from economic shocks. through this approach, and with partnerships among practitioners like those here today, we can ensure that those who experienced the greatest effects from the pandemic are included in the economic recovery. thank you again for this opportunity to be here today, and i wish you a productive and successful conference. 1 see u. s. bureau of labor statistics, “ employment situation summary, ” news release, june 4, 2021. 2 see board of governors of the federal reserve system, report on the economic well - being of u. s. households in 2020 – may 2021 ( pdf ) ( washington : board of governors, may 2021 ). 3 see “ civilian labor force participation rate, ” u. s. bureau of labor statistics, june 4, 2021. the overall labor force participation rate dropped from 63. 4 percent in january 2020 to 61. 7 percent in april 2021. 4 the small business credit survey is a collaboration of all 12 federal reserve banks and was fielded in september and october

an exploration of several avenues for mitigating them and this should, to my mind, not exclude the possibility of monetary policy actions. i ’ m not saying that a central bank should target asset prices per se. stock prices and real estate prices rise and fall for many reasons. in my view, however, a central bank needs to be observant when notable increases in asset prices are one of several imbalances that are building up even if inflation in goods and services does not show any sign of rising. such imbalances could be a combination of strong credit growth, rapidly rising investment and a marked deterioration in the private sector ’ s financial balance. i do not mean to imply that determining when such a situation is on the way is particular easy. my point is that monetary policy should not be excluded a priori in a scenario like this. there are many other difficult assessments that central banks have to make. here i am thinking about variables like the economy ’ s potential growth rate, the output gap and the nairu etc. why should identifying asset market misalignments, excessive credit growth and a rapid decline in private financial balances be more difficult than forming an opinion about variables such as these? my view about monetary policy in this respect is of course closely bound up with my experience of the swedish banking crisis, but it is also in line with a central bank ’ s mandate to achieve long - run price stability. if anything, a financial crisis substantially increases the risk of outright deflation after some time. the central bank could manage this risk in two ways : by at least trying to prevent the bubble from building up by tightening monetary policy at an early stage, and then by loosening monetary policy aggressively if a bubble builds up and bursts anyway. to my mind, both such actions would be in line with focusing on long - run price stability, whether the central bank follows an explicit or an implicit inflation targeting approach. although i will be leaving my job as governor of the bank of sweden towards the end of this year, i have no qualms about forecasting that financial stability will remain on the agenda and be a key challenge for financial authorities for many years to come.