People who receive unemployment benefit are mainly found in the lower part of the distribution, as are those with sickness benefit and other benefits such as activity compensation and financial support. 9 It is also clear that the group with the lowest income includes people who according to the Swedish Public Employment Service have a vulnerable position on the labour market, for instance, those born outside of Europe. The strong economic activity in recent years has meant that demand for labour has increased, which has meant that employment has shown a rising trend. Unemployment has also fallen, which is impressive given that the number of people in the labour force has at the same time increased. This development has reasonably, all else being equal, had a levelling effect on the distribution of income. An observation supporting this argument is that employment among those born outside of Europe has actually also begun to increase, albeit from a much lower level than for the other groups. Of course, it is not possible to ascribe the whole of this distributional effect to monetary policy – in the same way as it cannot account for the whole distributional effect of rising asset prices. But it is quite clear that the expansionary monetary policy has contributed to the strong development of the labour market in recent years. Another aspect of the improvements in the labour market that is relevant here is the link to future pensions.
First, MSB has an important role in supporting an inclusive financial system and facilitating economic transactions that add to growth and prosperity. However, this role has not been fully exploited. For example, there are still significant number of businesses and migrant workers who still prefer informal remittance channels as their choice. It is timely for MSB providers to reassess their products and services in terms of cost, speed, convenience and trusts so that we can draw this group of users away from the informal channels. I believe innovation is key to achieve this and it has to be facilitated by a regulatory framework that is facilitative. Second, global and national efforts to address risks associated with the financial proceeds from criminal activity have turned the spotlight on the MSB industry. The industry’s long term prospects and its contribution to socio-economic development could be undermined if these risks are not properly understood and sensibly managed. The industry may choose to ignore such risks; regulators are inclined to exaggerate them; customers complain about the inconveniences caused by risks mitigants; and criminals exploit them. The regulatory community and the industry present here today have a responsibility to bridge these gaps in a way that protects the industry from abuse for criminal purposes and the integrity of the financial system and undermine the legitimate expectations by users of financial services. There are 3 areas which we should focus collectively and try to find suitable solutions.