Third, is the amount of time (number of hours) that people in the labour force are willing to work. Average hours worked per person have changed little recently. The main drivers of the rapid growth in labour supply are participation and population increase (figure 2).
Many of the underlying demographic trends affecting the labour force are slow moving, and do not tend to affect monetary policy decisions from quarter to quarter. They do, however, have bearing on the conduct of policy, affecting long-run supply capacity, potential growth and neutral interest rates, so generally it is appropriate to consider both structural and cyclical forces.