encouraged highly skilled foreign professionals to work in japan. through collaboration and cooperation across borders, firms will take advantage of growth opportunities overseas, generating new innovation and raising labor productivity. this process will be accompanied by increased competition, with domestic workers facing overseas competitors in a much broader range of industries and professions. a labor market characterized by a variety of workers will require a shift in our thinking regarding how people work and how they are paid for taking on particular responsibilities. workers, as well as goods and services, confront the forces of globalization ; the customs and institutions of the labor market will inevitably be exposed to rising pressure in global competition. the final challenge is how our labor market will transform in response to demographic change in japan. in addition to the policy issues just discussed, i also want to stress the significance of encouraging labor force participation. this is imperative for increasing japan's potential growth rate ; and indeed, promoting labor participation of senior citizens and women is an important pillar of the current government policy. for these policies to be effective, however, we need to acknowledge that we have reached a turning point with regard to norms of working style as well as employment and wage structures ; these can no longer exist with the prime - age male worker alone in mind. japanese firms are already fully aware that accommodating to changes in the demographic profile while maintaining an employment and wage system of life - time employment and seniority - based wages is indeed a challenging task : the aging workforce of baby - boomers has pushed up firms'personnel expenses substantially in recent years. with new entrants to the labor market in the face of the aging population, we need to offer a wide selection of choices in terms of working hours and locations. furthermore, we should also transform the locus of responsibilities associated with child - rearing and nursing - care. conclusion the japanese have long been praised for " working hard, " - - in other words, for their diligent work ethic. i would like us to reaffirm our civic pride in this virtue ; however, this time, i mean " working hard " to have a different sense. from now on, we need to " work hard " to build and adjust to new customs and institutions that are highly adaptable to a variously changing environment. it is through providing these new institutional foundations for a remodeled labor market that we will form the basis for sustainable long - run growth. finally, though there is regretfully no time to talk about monetary policy, i can only say

a year - on - year basis partly because the increase in productivity and the restraint on labor costs by firms have absorbed the effects of the rise in commodity prices. the money market remains stable overall against the background of the bank ’ s provision of ample liquidity. in the capital markets, long - term interest rates rose somewhat toward the middle of 2004, but have been moving at around 1. 5 percent recently. stock prices have been generally firm with the ongoing economic recovery. the environment for corporate finance is becoming more accommodative on the whole, although it remains severe for firms with high credit risks. the lending attitude of private banks is becoming more accommodative, and the lending attitude of financial institutions as perceived by firms has been improving. the pace of decline in credit demand in the private sector is becoming somewhat moderate. under these circumstances, the rate of decline in lending by private banks has basically been diminishing. moreover, the fund - raising environment for firms in the capital markets through cp and corporate bonds remains favorable, and the amount outstanding of cp and corporate bonds issued continues to be above the previous year ’ s level. ii. conduct of monetary policy the bank has been conducting the quantitative easing policy with the outstanding balance of current accounts held at the bank as the operating target. in accordance with the current target range for the outstanding balance of “ around 30 to 35 trillion yen, ” the bank is providing ample liquidity to the money market. the bank has also made a commitment to maintain the quantitative easing policy until the year - on - year rate of change in the consumer price index ( cpi ; excluding fresh food, on a nationwide basis ) registers zero percent or higher on a sustainable basis. the bank ’ s commitment has contributed to stabilizing market participants ’ projection of future interest rates, and thus market interest rates have been stable. in this situation, firms have been able to raise funds at low interest rates. the commitment ’ s positive effects through interest rates on the economy will strengthen as corporate profits increase with economic recovery. with these policy effects in mind, the bank has firmly maintained its quantitative easing policy with the commitment based on the cpi. the bank has been making efforts to make credit intermediation in the market more diversified and efficient so that monetary easing effects permeate throughout the economy, and these efforts are expected to improve the japanese financial and capital markets in the long term. as part of such efforts, the bank started to purchase asset - backed securities (