a richer and often more timely understanding of what is going on than the higherlevel aggregate data alone might provide. talking to businesses about their plans for the future helps inform our forecasts, and has been especially useful recently for building a profile of conditions in different sectors, such as expected investment in the mining sector over the coming years. this is important for our analysis of capacity in, for instance, the mining sector, which affects how we see commodity prices, the terms of trade, the exchange rate and exports. conclusion as a physically large country, with quite a diverse set of industries, and our largest population centres separated by long distances and even living in different climates, australia is always likely to see some differences in economic experience by region. what is remarkable, in fact, is that the differences are not, in the end, larger. that they are not is testimony to the degree of flexibility within our national economy that has been built up over time, and to the design of national policies that aim to lessen the more stark differences that might otherwise occur. those structures have grown up in the context of a system of a national money. monetary policy is, by design, appropriately a national policy. in conducting it, the reserve bank devotes considerable attention to finding out and understanding what is happening at the regional and industry level. that helps us to maintain an overall set of financial conditions that are appropriate for the national economy. but we know that there will always be some differences in how changes to monetary policy are felt ( though it is not always to be assumed that these impacts are necessarily greatest in country areas ). monetary policy can ’ t make those differences disappear. in the end, however, if monetary policy can help to deliver reasonable macroeconomic stability, that will offer the best chance for any industry, any region, any business or any individual to succeed on their merits. the reserve bank, taking account of all the conditions across the various sectors, remains committed to that goal.

has performed well over recent times. over the past decade and a half, the unemployment rate has moved up and down within a narrow range of around 2 percentage points and its average level has been considerably below that in the previous 30 years ( graph 1 ). most other countries have seen considerably larger swings in their unemployment rates over recent times. the relative stability in australia's unemployment rate is despite us experiencing the biggest terms of trade and mining investment booms in a century. it is a considerable achievement and a testament to the flexibility of the australian economy. graph 1 if we look at just the past few months, there has been a welcome pick - up in employment growth right across the country, after a period of softness. the forward - looking indicators suggest that employment growth will continue. job ads, job vacancies and hiring intentions have all lifted. businesses are also reporting better conditions than they have for some years. this is good news, particularly given that the https : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2017 / sp - gov - 2017 - 07 - 26. html 2 / 13 7 / 26 / 2017 the labour market and monetary policy | speeches | rba unemployment rate is still around ½ a percentage point above estimates of full employment in australia. notwithstanding these outcomes, there are other labour market developments that are causing concern in the community. there is a degree of underemployment, wage growth is slow and job security is an issue for more people. the nature of work is also changing, in both the way we work and the industries in which we work. over the medium term, two trends in particular stand out. the first is the growth of part - time employment. and the second is the growth of employment in the services sector. the number of australians working part time has grown rapidly ( graph 2 ). since the 1960s, the share of part - time workers has increased threefold to nearly one - third of total employment, with the pace of this shift picking up over recent years. since 2013, growth in part - time employment has averaged 3 per cent per year, while growth in full - time employment has averaged less than 1 per cent. graph 2 this shift in working patterns reflects both supply and demand factors. https : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2017 / sp - gov - 2017 - 07 - 26. html 3 / 13 7 / 26 / 2017 the labour market and monetary policy | speeches | rb