net exports, consumer spending on services remained robust, and residential activity and business investment in equipment and intangibles strengthened. payroll employment has increased at a strong pace through april this year, partly reflecting increased immigrant labor supply. although we had seen signs of the labor market coming into better balance, recent employment reports show a continued tight labor market, with the unemployment rate remaining below 4 percent, and the number of job openings relative to unemployed workers is still above its pre - pandemic level. last year, the average 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches pace of job gains slowed, and the labor force participation rate rose. in recent months, however, job growth has rebounded, and labor force participation has flattened out around its peak from last year, suggesting there has not been further improvement in labor supply along this margin, as labor force participation among those aged 55 and older has been persistently low. at its current setting, our monetary policy stance appears to be restrictive, and i will continue to monitor the incoming data to assess whether monetary policy is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to our target. as i've noted recently, my baseline outlook continues to be that inflation will decline further with the policy rate held steady, but i still see a number of upside inflation risks that affect my outlook. first, much of the progress on inflation last year was due to supply - side improvements, including easing of supply chain constraints ; increases in the number of available workers, due in part to immigration ; and lower energy prices. it is unclear whether further supply - side improvements will continue to lower inflation. geopolitical developments could also pose upside risks to inflation, including the risk that spillovers from regional conflicts could disrupt global supply chains, putting additional upward pressure on food, energy, and commodity prices. there is also the risk that the loosening in financial conditions since late last year and additional fiscal stimulus could add momentum to demand, stalling any further progress or even causing inflation to reaccelerate. finally, there is a risk that strong consumer demand for services, increased immigration, and continued labor market tightness could lead to persistently high core services inflation. given the current low inventory of affordable housing, the inflow of new immigrants to some geographic areas could result in upward pressure on rents, as additional housing supply may take time to materialize. wage growth has remained at an elevated rate of between 4 and 5 percent, still higher than the pace consistent with our 2 percent inflation goal given

country to another in a world of ever deeper and swifter linkages. the relationship between national and international financial stability is obviously all the more important for countries, such as spain, whose banking system has a significant presence abroad. the expansion of spanish banks into latin america explains why the banco de espana has, in recent years, promoted the monitoring and analysis of financial stability problems in this region in particular, and in the emerging market economies in general, an area in which the role of the international monetary fund has become increasingly important. key lessons may be drawn from the recent crises that have affected emerging economies - though not only them - which should be borne in mind when designing mechanisms to reduce their frequency and cost. they include most notably : the need for a sound and well - designed institutional framework that protects property rights, prevents excessive public - or private - sector debt from accumulating and ensures economic stability ; the importance of ensuring consistency between the exchange rate regime and the domestic economic policies and institutional framework ; the risks entailed by the vulnerability associated with exchange rate instability processes for the balance sheets of different sectors in the economy, especially when there is a high degree of dollarisation ; the marked sensitivity of emerging market economies to potentially very volatile capital flows, the direction of which can change suddenly due, at times, to factors that may even be exogenous to the country experiencing them ; the importance of an appropriate regulatory and macro - prudential supervisory system to prevent crises generated in the financial system and to alleviate the ensuing costs if such crises finally occur, and to cushion the effects of shocks stemming from the real sector of the economy ; and, finally, the importance of distinguishing, as far as possible, between liquidity and solvency crises in countries ’ external debt and in governments ’ public debt, as a first step towards applying suitable remedies for resolving each type of crisis. as a result of these crises, and in collaboration with other international agencies and with national authorities, the fund conducted a far - reaching review of the so - called “ international financial architecture ”. numerous initiatives were adopted over recent years with the aim of lessening the frequency and cost of crises and of improving the stability of the international monetary system. accordingly, there has been a notable effort to increase the transparency of member countries ’ economic policies and to improve the information at the disposal of economic agents and, in particular, international financial markets so that the latter may exert market discipline more effectively. specific measures have been adopted to reinforce