##t 1 / 2018 ) describe how measures of productivity are adapted for the manufacturing industry and how service industries, which are growing in sweden, require other measures of productivity. 2 everybody who lives in sweden will continue to have access to secure and efficient payment services. consequently, over the last year, the riksbank has prioritised the analysis and strategic development of the payment market. the riksbank has also proposed that, via legislation, sveriges riksdag, the swedish parliament, should clarify the banks ’ responsibilities for supplying cash. 2 financial crises, technology and competition have restrained wage increases in a city like sodertalje, with, for example, the vehicle manufacturer scania, the pharmaceutical manufacturer astrazeneca and the port of sodertalje, there is long experience of working in the global economy and of technological shifts. for you, change is nothing new. if we zoom out to the entire swedish economy, we have also been quite good, as a country, at managing change. but let me start in the present day, where we can see that the international economy is growing increasingly strong. the united states is in one of the longest phases of rising gdp of the post - war period and, last year, the euro area had the highest growth in ten years. however, it takes time for the strong economic activity to affect inflation. although the recovery has come far after the years of financial crises and low growth, wage increases have been unexpectedly low in many advanced economies. in large economies such as the united states, canada, germany, australia, as well as in sweden, unemployment is close to or below levels at which wage growth, historically speaking, tends to pick up. in sweden, we have had a number of years with a combination of low productivity and low expectations of inflation and wages, which partly explains the low wage demands up to now. even if sweden has had a strong employment trend in recent years, technological innovations and international competition will entail a transformation in which jobs will disappear and need to be replaced by new ones. these forces, in combination with long - term stagnation in the euro area after the financial crisis, are also leading to employees becoming more cautious with their demands. 3 it is feasible that the upheaval these forces cause at workplaces may also make it difficult for individuals to assess whether they risk becoming unemployed and, if so, what their position might be on the labour market. low wage expectations are a global phenomenon

to meet these challenges over the long term, other policy areas than monetary policy will have to be used. here, i would like to name two important areas : education and oversight of competition. in light of technological developments and population increases, opportunities for life - long education and professional development will be completely decisive. even well - educated professional groups that have previously had low unemployment have started to become aware of a growing risk of being automated out of work. this applies, for instance, to investment advice, financial accounting and legal support. other experts can describe this area better and in more depth than i do here, but to me it seems obvious that increasing numbers of us will have develop our skills further several times in the courses of our professional lives. the other important policy area is that of competition oversight and regulation. new technology brings new actors and some of these have become very large global actors. in markets characterised by high entrance barriers, synergies and network effects, far too much power can easily be concentrated in the hands of a flodberg and loof, staff memo, december 2017. https : / / www. riksbank. se / globalassets / media / rapporter / staffmemo / svenska / 2017 / staff _ memo _ 171220 _ 1 _ sv _ sfx829la. pdf 4 few dominant actors. national politicians play an important part here : in cooperation with other countries, they must oversee and, when necessary, regulate different markets to safeguard the public interest. the contribution of monetary policy at present, we can observe that the very low level of interest rates and the riksbank ’ s asset purchases have had clear effects. inflation, which has shown a rising trend since 2014, was around 2 per cent last year and long - term expectations are anchored to the target. the swedish labour market is moving in the right direction and employment has increased by 240, 000 over the last three years. but unemployment for those born abroad remains high. refugees settling in sweden often lack a strong link to the labour market when they arrive. only half of refugees are in employment after eight years in sweden. but it is positive that their establishment on the labour market looks like it is starting to go faster. as you know, there are no guarantees in the forecasting business. it has taken a decade, but it seems as though the global economy has finally recovered enough from the after - shocks of the financial crisis to start a new chapter and that central banks in our