on by the pandemic from those of ui benefits. all of these factors are likely to diminish by autumn with the return to fully in - person school, continued progress on vaccinations, and the expiration of supplemental ui benefits in early september — or earlier, in many states. for all these reasons, the supply – demand mismatches in the labor market are likely to be temporary, and i expect to see further progress on employment in coming months. that said, today employment remains far from our goal. jobs are down by over 8 million relative to their pre - pandemic level, and the shortfall is over 10 million jobs if we take into account the secular job growth that would have occurred over the past year research indicates that the additional income provided to the unemployed through the cares act likely had little labor - supply - induced effect on the unemployment rate in early to mid - 2020 and likely only a small effect on the job - finding rate in early 2021. for more information, see nicolas petrosky - nadeau and robert g. valletta ( 2021 ), “ ui generosity and job acceptance : effects of the 2020 cares act, ” working paper series 2021 - 13 ( san francisco : federal reserve bank of san francisco, may ), https : / / doi. org / 10. 24148 / wp2021 - 13, and the citations within. in normal circumstances. as of april, the overall prime - age employment - to - population ( epop ) ratio is 76. 9 percent, more than 3 percentage points below its pre - pandemic level. the shortfall in the prime - age epop ratio is around 5 percentage points for black and hispanic workers relative to their october 2019 peaks. policy although continued vigilance is warranted, the inflation and employment data thus far appear to reflect a temporary misalignment of supply and demand that should fade over time as the demand surge normalizes, reopening is completed, and supply adapts to the post - pandemic new normal. under our guidance, adjustments in the path of monetary policy are transparently tied to realized progress on our maximum - employment and 2 percent average - inflation goals. jobs are down by between 8 and 10 million compared with the level we would have seen in the absence of the pandemic. and it will be important to see sustained progress on inflation given the preceding multiple year trend of inflation below 2 percent. while we are far from our

as a critical factor in defining competitive advantage and success. ladies and gentlemen, significant market developments continue to exert their influence in shaping both the global and the domestic economy. these developments include the increased pace of globalisation, the emergence of new technologies and the increasing importance assigned to the value of knowledge as a determining factor in a country's performance. as competition intensifies, and rapid and dynamic changes take place in the financial environment, the areas of comparative advantage will change. in recognition of these trends, malaysia has allocated significant resources and attention to human capital development to strengthen the intellectual capacity of our nation. indeed, human intellectual capital plays a pivotal role in driving future performance and competitiveness. in the financial services sector, the financial landscape will continue to evolve with the proliferation of financial products and services in line with the rapidly changing requirements of the economy and expectations of businesses and consumers. these trends are particularly evident in the insurance industry. indeed, over recent decade, the insurance industry has seen significant progress and expansion. assets of the insurance industry have now reached over rm100 billion and annual premiums generated by the industry are in excess of rm23 billion a year. the market penetration, that is, the number of policies in force as a ratio of the total population, has more than tripled to 38. 7 % from over a decade ago. at the same time, this growth has been underpinned by a transformation of the industry in terms of the distribution systems, product diversity, sophistication of business models and practices, and the state of the art technological advances. with this track record and the structural changes in the environment that are occurring, the prospects for continued growth will remain strong going forward. importantly, the insurance industry continues to play an important socio - economic role within the economy. it is a signifant institutional investor in the capital market, with over rm49 billion invested in corporate and debt securities. in addition to providing basic insurance protection to individuals and corporations, insurance products have also contributed significantly towards expanding the breadth of financial planning options for individuals. this includes solutions that provide for individuals to finance their retirement needs, medical expenses and children's education, as well as solutions that enhance their investment income. all of you are therefore part of a key industry that forms an integral component of our social and economic fabric. professionals in the insurance industry can therefore expect to play an important role in this environment of increasing complexity in financial services that is accompanied by the increasingly sophisticated demands by businesses