from other institutions and pressure groups is crucial in ensuring its credibility, and therefore in creating the conditions for inflation expectations firmly anchored upon the announced definition of price stability. the importance of independence for sheltering the decision - making body of a central bank from all forms of interference has proven key in securing the trust of the public and in anchoring inflation expectations in the long run. as a counterpart to its independence, and to foster and maintain a broad constituency for stability and monetary prudence in europe, the ecb was made accountable to the european people. this requirement is met in particular through the regular and frequent appearances - at least five per year of the ecb ’ s president and members of the executive board before the european parliament. accountability is not just a vital democratic requirement, it is also crucial in ensuring that the central bank operates according to the provisions set out by the treaty. furthermore, it creates and maintains a line of trust between the central bank and its public ; this trust is also enhanced by a transparent communication, an issue which i will also come back to. by comparing actual euro area inflation with the stated objective of price stability, european citizens provide a powerful incentive to policy - makers. in political democracies, which are also vivid opinion democracies an independent institution is ultimately responsible vis a vis the public at large. fiscal governance third, monetary policy is supported by clear rules on fiscal governance. european citizens took a bold step in creating a single currency in an economic area without a genuine political federation or federal government. in order to make up for the lack of federal government and budget, the treaty establishing the economic and monetary union has introduced rules to prohibit monetary financing of fiscal deficits and to discourage free - riding among national governments. in addition, a framework was set up to ensure sound fiscal positions in individual countries. fiscal rules like those enshrined in the maastricht treaty and in the stability and growth pact are essential in any single currency area as key for the economic rationale and consistency of the economic and monetary union. the ecb ’ s monetary policy concept although these institutional requirements were necessary to ensure the credibility of economic and monetary union and of the single currency itself, i contend that they were not sufficient alone. our challenge was that the euro had to benefit from the highest levels of credibility and trust available within the future euro area, since this was vital to european growth and job creation. to meet this challenge, the ecb designed a specific monetary policy strategy. in

growth throughout the recovery. various indicators suggest this cycle has not been disrupted by the loss of growth momentum this year. employment growth remains relatively strong, even though the latest data suggest some slowdown. the contribution of labour income to household income growth in the first half of this year was the strongest in a decade. and consumer confidence remains above its long - run average in the euro area and across most economies. perceptions about the general economic climate have declined somewhat this year, but consumers ’ assessments of their personal situation – which tend to be more correlated with consumption – have remained steady. there are three considerations that underpin our view that this cycle is resilient. first, an important force behind employment growth in the euro area is longer - term structural changes, and these are less sensitive to cyclical swings. over the past five years, employment has increased by 9. 5 million people, rising by 2. 6 million in germany, 2. 1 million in spain, 1 million in france and 1 million in italy. 2 this growth is similar to the five years before the crisis, when employment grew by 10 million people. in that period, however, close to 70 % of employment growth was “ prime age ”, meaning it came from the 25 - 54 age group. but since 2013 more than 70 % of employment growth has come from those aged 5574. this partly reflects the impact of past structural reforms, such as to pension systems. indeed, the participation rate of people aged 55 - 74 has almost doubled, from around 20 % in 1999 to 38 % in 2017. the share of women in work has also risen by more than 10 percentage points since the start of emu to almost 60 % – its highest level ever. in addition, countries that have implemented structural reforms have in general seen a rise in labour demand in recent years compared with the pre - crisis period. germany, portugal and spain are all good examples. 2 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches the second consideration that points to the resilience of domestic demand is the strong link between consumption and job growth in the euro area. consumption is much more conducive to jobs than exports, reflecting the higher labour - intensity of services, which are the bulk of consumers ’ expenditure. in contrast, exports have a higher manufacturing content and are less labour intensive. 3 this is one reason why the labour market recovery was not affected by the contraction in world trade in 2015 - 16. in fact, the continued strength of consumption may