bank failures and stress among some other mid - size banks. let me talk about each of these three key issues and then conclude with how i see these factors playing into my june policy decision. a very tight labor market the employment report for april showed solid job growth, but previous months were revised downward by a significant amount. the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3. 4 percent, reaching its low in recent years, which is the lowest since 1969. the labor force participation rate held steady in april after several months of increases. average hourly earnings rose at their fastest pace this year, and, over the past 12 months, were up 4. 4 percent, slightly higher than the yearly pace in march. these data suggest the labor market is still powering forward. 1 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches however, there are some other signs that the labor market may be cooling. temporaryhelp employment fell for the third straight month and is considerably down from last year. some see this category as a leading indicator for overall employment, meaning we may see some softening in labor demand going forward. furthermore, job vacancies declined by 384, 000 in march, and the number of job vacancies for every person counted as looking for a job has declined to 1. 6, down from the peak of 2 for every job seeker. this reduction is consistent with a softening in labor demand, but it is still far above the 1 - to 1 ratio that was typical before the pandemic. finally, the rate at which people are quitting jobs, a sign of confidence in the job market, has fallen and is in hailing distance of the level that persisted for the couple of years before the pandemic recession. as i have argued in other speeches, a loosening labor market, to help our fight against inflation, doesn't have to mean a recession or big job losses. 2 but we do need to see more loosening than we have seen to help take the heat off the inflation rate. inflation is stubbornly high let's talk about where we are on inflation. the latest consumer price index ( cpi ) report showed that headline inflation fell from 5 percent year over year in march to 4. 9 percent in april. but that decline was only due to rounding - the actual decrease was just five onehundreds of a percentage point, from 4. 98 percent to 4. 93 percent. almost no progress. the news on core inflation was similar. core cpi

assessment, the bank will discuss what should be done in order to make sure that the price stability target of 2 percent is achieved at the earliest possible time. let me emphasize that the assessment is conducted with the aim of achieving the 2 percent target at the earliest possible time. a reduction in the level of monetary policy accommodation, which is being called for by some market participants, will not be considered. ii. japan ’ s economy since the introduction of qqe, and its effects economic activity and prices during past three years to start with, i would like to take a look back at economic activity and prices since the introduction of qqe. first, in the corporate sector, profits increased considerably, including those of small firms ( chart 1 ). corporate profits, measured by the ratio of current profits to sales, marked a bis central bankers ’ speeches record high level in fiscal 2015. profits are expected to decrease slightly this fiscal year, especially those of manufacturers, but remain high. second, in the household sector, the employment and income situation has improved significantly. the number of employees has been increasing steadily. the unemployment rate has declined recently to 3 percent, which is virtually full employment. as for wages, the annual labor - management wage negotiations in 2014 resulted in base pay rises for the first time in two decades ; base pay rises have continued for three consecutive years. third, the underlying trend in inflation has clearly improved ( chart 2 ). as a result of the fall in crude oil prices of more than 70 percent since summer 2014 until the beginning of this year, the latest figure for the year - on - year rate of change in the consumer price index ( cpi, all items less fresh food ) is minus 0. 5 percent. nevertheless, on a basis excluding fresh food and energy, the year - on - year rate of change in the cpi, which had been in the range of around minus 0. 5 to minus 1. 0 percent before the introduction of qqe, became positive in autumn 2013, and thereafter has remained in positive territory for two years and ten months. this is the first time since the late 1990s, when japan ’ s economy fell into deflation, that the year - on - year rate of change in the cpi has been in positive territory for such a long period. japan ’ s economy is no longer in deflation, which is commonly defined as a situation where prices are declining in a sustainable manner. of course, these changes are not brought about merely by the