3  By itself, ageing is estimated to have subtracted from the labour force participation rate by between 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points per year over the past decade and a half; this effect has picked up a little in recent years as baby boomers have begun to reach the age of 65 years. See Kent (2014) for details.
This buffer is intended to be released as the economy weakens in order to allow banks to lend more when it is most needed.