fourth quarter of the year. going forward, i expect that there will be less fiscal drag in 2014 than we saw in 2013 and that housing will continue its recovery. personal consumption, which accounts for more than two - thirds of gdp, advanced at an annual rate of 3. 3 percent in the fourth quarter, the highest personal consumption growth rate since fourth quarter 2010. rising house prices and stock prices have helped improve consumer balance sheets, and steady job growth has added to wage and salary growth, all of which have supported spending. on the job front, the january employment report showed payroll gains of 113, 000 jobs, following an increase of 75, 000 jobs in december, which was below many analysts ’ expectations. yet, these numbers were affected by the unseasonably cold and snowy weather. indeed, winter weather has continued to be unusually disruptive, and that is making it difficult to assess underlying economic trends. i suspect it may be another couple of months before we have a better read on the economy – hopefully the weather will turn better before that! we have to remember that these employment numbers are subject to revisions, and such revisions can be significant. for instance, in the latest report the november jobs number was revised up by 33, 000, from 241, 000 to 274, 000, while the december number was also revised up by 1, 000 to 75, 000. because of month - to - month volatility and data revisions, i prefer not to read too much into the most recent numbers but, instead, look at averages over several months. here the news remains positive. based on the latest revision, firms added an average of 194, 000 jobs per month in 2013, somewhat better than the pace in 2012. this consistent pace of job growth was enough to drop the unemployment rate 1. 2 percentage points last year. in january, it fell a bit further to 6. 6 percent. this is noticeably lower than the fomc anticipated in its summary of economic projections in september 2012, when we started the current asset purchase program. that is, the labor market has performed better than expected, according to the unemployment rate measure. should we be sceptical of the unemployment rate as an indicator of labor market conditions? some people are because the decline in the unemployment rate reflects not only increases in employment but declines in labor force participation as well. declines in participation can include discouraged workers who have stopped looking for work because it is difficult to find a job. there is concern in some

( 320 kb pdf ). center for financial services innovation. wendy way, nancy wong, and constance steinkuehler ( 2010 ), “ social network sites and internet forums : an investigation of interactions around personal finance in the online social world ”. university of wisconsinmadison. bis central bankers ’ speeches reaching consumers there ’ s a saying among communications professionals that “ the medium is the message. ” in that vein, i believe that how we deliver financial education has a significant impact on how effective the lessons will be. new technologies present exciting new opportunities to deliver timely financial lessons. mobile payments and financial services are growing at a rapid pace. 4 financial management “ apps ” for smart phones abound, making it possible for consumers to get just - in - time information. the developments in mobile financial services have only begun to exploit the potential of this technology to provide tools for consumer financial decisionmaking. i will be particularly interested to see how technology can be used to better serve lower - income populations who may be more focused on stretching their paychecks to meet monthly expenses than on investing. if you can have an app to track what you eat, certainly you could use one to track what you spend. evaluating the effectiveness of financial education until now, we have had a limited understanding of which methods work best with respect to financial education. for years, one of the correlates of higher scores on the jumpstart financial literacy test was participation in the stock market game, an enrichment program offered in many schools. the finra education foundation sponsored a study to determine just what it was about the game that made a difference. not surprisingly, the answer is that the game seems to develop math skills. 5 entertainment - based financial education also seems to be effective in capturing attention and instilling knowledge among youths. young people who played one of the doorway to dreams ( d2d ) financial education games reported increases in financial knowledge, aspirations, and self - confidence. 6 among young adults, financial education was found to be most relevant when it was tied to financial outcomes. 7 for example, in a federal reserve study conducted with army emergency relief, young enlisted service members who participated in a financial education program seemed to make better car - buying decisions. these soldiers had higher down payment - to - loan ratios and shorter - term loans than a comparison group who did not take the financial education program. 8 these are notable examples, but the fact is that we have very limited data on how effective financial education is in