As recent experience confirms, it would be difficult and unwise to set any numerical target for full employment, given the uncertainty about what that target should be and the likelihood that this target would vary over time with demographic changes in the labour force, government policies, and changes in the efficiency of the matching process between jobs and unemployed workers.
But it also requires central banks to be held accountable – a point that Stefan Ingves highlighted in a speech last year. [8] We need to justify the course of action that we consider as most appropriate in achieving our mandate. This is what I intend to do in my remarks today.