went to an atm, on average, around 40 times per year. today, we go to an atm around 25 times a year and the downward trend is likely to continue. 1 / 14 bis central bankers'speeches at the same time as the use of cash for payments has been declining, the number of electronic transactions has been growing strongly ( graph 2 ). today, australians make, on average, nearly 500 electronic payments a year, up from around 100 per year around the turn of the century. 2 / 14 bis central bankers'speeches new payment technologies are being developed that will further encourage this shift to electronic payments. perhaps the most significant of these is the new payments platform, which has made it possible for people to make real - time person - to - person payments without using banknotes. a range of payment apps are also under development that would have the same effect. so the direction of change is clear. there also continues to be a decline in the use of cheques ( graph 3 ). 1 in the mid 1990s, australians, on average, made around 45 cheque payments per year. today, we make around three per person. given this trend is likely to continue, it will be appropriate at some point to wind up the cheque system, given the high fixed costs involved in operating the system. we have not reached that point yet, but it may not be too far away. before we do, it is important that alternative payment methods are available. progress has been made on this front, but more is required. 3 / 14 bis central bankers'speeches it is worth pointing out that despite the decline in cash use, the value of banknotes on issue, relative to the size of the economy, is close to the highest it has been in fifty years. for every australian there are currently around thirty $ 50 and fourteen $ 100 banknotes on issue ( graph 4 ). 4 / 14 bis central bankers'speeches so there is an apparent paradox between the declining use of cash and the rising value of banknotes on issue. the main explanation is that some people, including non - residents, choose to hold a share of their wealth in australian banknotes. the opportunity cost of doing this is less than it used to be because of the low level of interest rates. while it is difficult to predict the future, i expect that banknotes will remain part of our payments system for some time to come. in some situations, paying with banknotes is quicker and more convenient than paying

of the working - age population not in the labour force. but since 2010, the rise in the marginally attached only accounts for less than one - quarter of the rise in the share of the working - age population not in the labour force. many of those not in the labour force may still have been discouraged, but they chose to make themselves unavailable for work ; for example, they may have embarked on a period of study or decided to retire earlier than might have otherwise been the case. graph 7 the noticeable increase in the number of people that are not in the labour force and are not considered to be marginally attached suggests that there are other, potentially more structural factors at play. an important one is ageing. an increasing share of the populace is moving into older age brackets, which tend to have lower rates of participation ( graph 8 ). also, older workers are more likely to work part - time, so even those participating do so with fewer hours on average than when they were in the prime of their working - age lives. the definition of marginal attachment includes individuals who are available for or searching for work, but not both ( in which case they would be classified as unemployed ). note that some “ discouraged ” workers may not be classified as marginally attached ; for example, some individuals will choose to take up further study, in which case they are no longer available for work nor are they searching for it. conversely, some individuals will be considered marginally attached even if they are not “ discouraged ” from searching for a job ; for example, those that are searching but not yet available to enter the labour force. bis central bankers ’ speeches graph 8 the ageing of the population is not new. by itself, ageing is estimated to have subtracted from the participation rate by between 0. 1 and 0. 2 percentage points per year over the past decade and a half ( graph 9 ). however, the effect has picked up a little in recent years as baby boomers have begun to reach the age of 65 years. graph 9 what has begun to deviate more noticeably from its historical path in recent years is the participation rate among older workers. in the past, rising participation of those people in older age brackets worked to more than offset the effect of an increasing share of older people in the population. that is, while the workforce was ageing, more people were working later into life than was the case in the past. in particular, older women were more likely to participate