countries compared to the past, which also suggests increased business cycle synchronisation within the euro area. 2 / 16 bis central bankers'speeches the recovery is also broadening across sectors. the share of sectors with positive growth has returned to its pre - crisis levels ( see slide 2, chart on the right ). at the same time, the dispersion of growth rates across sectors is the lowest since the inception of the euro. taken together, the broadening of the recovery across countries and sectors suggests that it has not only gained momentum but, importantly, the recovery has gained robustness. slide 2 a more robust recovery has also been visible in the labour market where conditions have improved markedly ( see slide 3, chart on the left ). employment has risen by almost 6 million since 2013. this stands in contrast to the jobless recovery of 2010, which is another indication of the turning tides in the euro area. furthermore, labour market recovery is stronger in countries where it was especially weak. euro area unemployment rate has receded, despite still too high unemployment rates in some countries ( see slide 3, chart on the right ). 3 / 16 bis central bankers'speeches slide 3 notwithstanding these improvements, the growing uncertainty surrounding the strength of the world economic recovery, and of the us in particular, makes the normalisation of inflation and unemployment levels in the euro area more difficult ( see slide 4 ). 4 / 16 bis central bankers'speeches slide 4 adjustment and resilience the increased robustness of the euro area economy is also reflected in the gradual unwinding of the macroeconomic imbalances accumulated before the crisis. in fact, countries that eventually entered a programme had recorded large losses in price competitiveness in the run - up to the crisis. since the crisis, the initial dramatic increases in the real exchange rates of those countries have largely been corrected ( see slide 5 ) along with a marked improvement in price competitiveness. in most programme countries relative unit labour costs are now below their respective level in 1999. 5 / 16 bis central bankers'speeches slide 5 at the same time, the large current account deficits registered in several euro area countries before the crisis have narrowed significantly or even turned into surpluses ( see slide 6 ). importantly, the largest part of the current account adjustments is estimated to be non - cyclical and therefore likely to be sustained as the recovery continues. 1 from this perspective, it is very relevant that ( with the exception of greece ) the external account improvements

, strengthened their balancesheet by eur 104 billion. measures taken include : eur 34 billion through issuance of quoted shares ( implemented and publicly announced ), eur 15 billion through the issuance of contingent capital hybrids or eur 19 billion relating to additional provisioning. as a result, confidence in the euro area banking sector has improved and since the first quarter of last year, banks ’ stock prices have risen at almost double the rate of the market average growth. but even if we were to agree that completing the strengthening of european banks is a necessary condition to consolidate the recovery, it is far from being a sufficient condition for jump starting growth in europe. i caution that even a complete rehabilitation of the euro area ’ s banking system ( which is well on its way thanks to the various policy steps related to the banking union ) will not guarantee a quick return to high growth and low unemployment. in fact, there are a number of challenges, both immediate and particularly medium - term ones, that the euro area economy is facing and which are potentially more difficult to overcome than repairing the banking sector. let me name a few : in spite of the confirmed ongoing economic recovery, investment is still 20 % below its 2007 level ; there is a general weakness of demand and medium - term challenges to introduce structural reforms necessary vitor constancio “ banking union : meaning implications for the future of banking ” speech at banking union conference organised by master in banking and financial regulation, navarra university, madrid, 25 of april 2014. vitor constancio “ growing out of the crisis : is fixing finance enough? ” speech at the levy institute hyman minsky conference on the state of the us and the world economy, washington dc, 10 april 2014 ( see ecb site ). “ basel iii capital : a well - intended illusion ”, remarks by fdic vice - chairman thomas m. hoenig to the international association of deposit insurers, 2013 research conference in basel, switzerland. bis central bankers ’ speeches for a quantum leap in total factor productivity are compounded by negative demographic developments. in fact, in the near future, the european workforce will start declining by 0. 6 % a year until 2030. of course, this is not to say that financial sector weaknesses are not important, or sufficiently recognised. the broad comprehensive assessment that we have started reflects precisely the importance of balance - sheet repair. my point is rather that while the on - going deleveraging in the banking