: improving outcomes for workers and employers is a collection of more than 65 essays from national and regional workforce experts about systemic barriers to employment and how further workforce investments can overcome those barriers. staff from the new york fed contributed two chapters in the publication. one piece — on partnership development as a key workforce strategy — includes a look into how three employers in new york and puerto rico developed partnerships with post - secondary institutions to make progress in overcoming the skills gap issue. by detailing some of the factors that contributed to employers ’ partnering with educational institutions, this chapter aims to provide insight to employers seeking to engage with educational partners to address labor market concerns and support the development of skilled industry talent. the second piece examines the high child poverty rate in puerto rico and its impact on the long - term economic sustainability of the island and its ability to recover from hurricane maria. the island ’ s child poverty rate is almost three times higher than that of mainland, and has remained stagnant even during times of economic growth, suggesting the issue is not just rooted in labor demand. this chapter discusses the dual programmatic and policy strategy of the boys and girls club of puerto rico and its sister organization the youth development institute. before i conclude my remarks, i would like to provide a quick overview of today ’ s sessions. first, my colleague patrick harker, president and ceo of the federal reserve bank of philadelphia, will discuss key shifts in perspective needed to see workforce development as an investment. then there will be three panel sessions, each dedicated to the overarching focus of a volume in the publication – investing in workers, investing in work, and investing in systems. the day will then end with a luncheon panel discussion where speakers from various sectors will discuss what needs to happen to realize the goal of seeing workforce development as an investment in inclusive economic growth that benefits workers, employers, and communities. i am thrilled that we can bring together national and regional leaders representing the private, public, and nonprofit sectors to engage in a dialogue that can inform workforce development programming across the country and learn from one another about the opportunities for investing in america ’ s workforce. we look forward to a productive day and continuing the conversation after the event. thank you. 12 1 from robin willner, nys p - tech leaderships council 2 from sarah conte, per scholas ny 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

than in a market - based system, as illustrated by wealth effects, for example. therefore with regard to the purchase of government bonds, measures which are obvious in one place could be the last resort at best for us – for instance when there is the threat of deflation, but only if the cost - benefit analysis is favourable. as you see, there are more questions than answers at the moment. in my view, a consideration of the costs and benefits, and the opportunities and risks of a broad purchase programme of government bonds does not give a positive outcome at the current time. concluding remarks owing to my position, i have limited myself today to talking about innovations in monetary policy. at this point we should look first at the effect of our recent measures and of the asset quality review and the stress test on bank lending. innovations in other political areas are also necessary, if not even more so. the reasons for weak growth and funding shortfalls primarily lie elsewhere, not in a lack of central bank liquidity, to say nothing of capital markets. innovative political approaches are called for when it comes to increasing growth potential in the euro area, strengthening economic adjustment efforts and making budget consolidation compatible with growth and employment. but let me conclude by returning to the original question : how innovative may the ecb ’ s monetary policy be? as innovative as necessary and as effective as possible. this requires careful consideration. the risks and side effects must always be taken into account. for me, given the current situation, the hurdles for further measures are very high, especially for broad purchase programmes. the interest and spreads for many debt instruments are already very low : the risk of market distortions cannot be dismissed. the deciding factor for all programmes is their effectiveness for the real economy and ultimately for price stability, which is what we – the ecb as the central bank for the whole euro area – must be judged on. innovation is not therefore a taboo, but neither can it be an end in itself. i look forward to our discussion. bis central bankers ’ speeches