9 The following publications showed that the structural unemployment rate was around 3.5 percent or lower using unemployment-vacancy analysis: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Analysis of the Labour Economy 2015, September 2015; Cabinet Office, Annual Report on the Japanese Economy and Public Finance 2015, August 2015; and Bank of Japan, "The Bank's View" in the Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices (hereafter the report), October 2014.
One factor in the strength of the single European currency has been the improved economic outlook for the area, in the face of fears of a slowdown in the United States. Monetary policy has remained conducive to growth. Real short-term interest rates are still below the average for the area over the last twenty years.