loan losses during a slowdown. if all banks do the same, their actions will exacerbate the downturn and increase their eventual losses. it is well - known that timely and properly calibrated monetary and fiscal policy can address the first issue. it is less widely recognized that macroprudential regulation can address the second. in many ways, the central bank is ideally suited to bring a macroprudential approach to financial stability. our mandate demands that we take an economy - wide perspective. further, we have a strong motivation to maintain a stable, efficient financial system because we rely on it to transmit our monetary policy actions. however, we do not have many of the tools necessary to secure financial stability. monetary policy is a blunt instrument, poorly suited to addressing financial imbalances. instead, macrofinancial stability should be one of the core objectives of financial regulation. until it is, under the current framework, the bank can promote financial stability through two tools : liquidity and advocacy. the bank is the ultimate source of liquidity within the economy. we have used our recently enhanced powers under the bank of canada act extensively throughout the crisis, with measures that now total more than $ 36 billion of term liquidity. there are four important points of context. first, we are not supplying net liquidity to the system – there is no new central bank money. rather, we are redistributing liquidity by exchanging liquid assets for high - quality, though less - liquid ones. second, we are substantially over - collateralized to protect our balance sheet. 3 third, consistent with canada's relatively strong banking system, our liquidity provision has not been as large as elsewhere. for example, the bank of canada is currently providing liquidity equivalent to around 1 per cent of total domestic banking assets. the comparable figures are 4 per cent in europe, 5 per cent in the united kingdom and 6 per cent in the united states. finally, while the provision of extraordinary liquidity by central banks is limiting the damage from the crisis, it has long been apparent that official liquidity, irrespective of size, cannot re - open markets on its own. the bank's second tool – advocacy – has not received the same profile as the first – a fact i hope to begin to change today. the bank can promote financial stability by influencing public sector policies and private sector behaviour. we do this in two ways ; by leveraging our for example, at

share of the job losses ( chart 1 ). for example, young people — those aged 15 to 24 — hold about 40 percent of the jobs in the accommodation and food services sectors. that ’ s more than three times their share of the labour force. by april, youth employment had fallen by more than 30 percent. chart 1 : women have seen greater losses in employment than men change in employment by age and gender, percent, seasonally adjusted % - 10 - 20 - 30 - 40 15 – 24, men 15 – 24, women 25 – 54, men 25 – 54, women change at trough ( february 2020 to april 2020 ) january 2021 vs. february 2020 change at trough ( february 2020 to april 2020 ) january 2021 vs. february 2020 sources : statistics canada and bank of canada calculations - 4for families with young children, the closing of schools and daycares has also had a profound impact on the ability of parents to work. the burden of child care tends to fall disproportionately on women. from february to may, the participation rate of women in the labour force declined sharply. and for women who remained in the labour force, the unemployment rate rose from 5. 4 percent to almost 14 percent. as the economy reopened in the spring, the plunge in employment reversed sharply. from may through november, the economy added almost 2. 4 million jobs, recovering about 80 percent of its losses. the rebound also began to narrow some of the inequalities in the labour market. women returned to the labour force, recovering much of the earlier decline in participation. youth employment improved modestly, though young women, in particular, continue to face very challenging labour market conditions ( chart 2 ). unfortunately, in recent months the second wave of the virus interrupted the jobs recovery. more than a quarter of a million jobs were lost in the past two months, with the pain again falling disproportionately on women and youth. women also began dropping out of the labour market again, partly because in - person schooling was suspended in many regions. another sign of the pandemic ’ s unequal impact is that job losses have been concentrated among those least able to afford them. low - wage jobs have been severely affected by the pandemic ( chart 3 ). by comparison, employment outside of low - wage jobs fell more modestly at the start of the pandemic and recovered quickly, exceeding its pre - pandemic level by september. these jobs