Households’ confidence, though lower in the second half than in the first, remains relatively high. Thanks to the introduction and extension of forms of flexibility in labour practices, employment has staged a recovery; the number of part-time and fixed-term contracts has increased considerably.
These developments were of course significantly influenced by some new positive worldwide developments at that time, such as diminishing perceived risks from the European debt problem and relatively firm improvement in the U.S. economy. In addition, I believe that the Bank’s clarification of its policy stance, which was taken as a positive surprise, also had a considerable impact on those market developments.