Let me set out the key dimensions of the financial sector jobs and skills agenda that we will cover over the next few months under the Growing Timber series: Job opportunities – what are the new jobs being created and how to access these jobs; Job readiness – how can we prepare our tertiary students so that they are job-ready when they embark on a career in the financial sector; Job retention – keeping our mid-career workers employed through upskilling amid new skills demands; Job redeployment – reskilling mid-career workers in jobs that are being transformed by technology and pivoting them to new careers; Job specialisation – deepening skills and capabilities in highly specialised areas in strong demand; and Job leadership – grooming promising Singaporeans for leadership roles at diﬀerent levels. Today, I will cover the first three dimensions of the jobs and skills agenda – namely, job opportunities, job readiness, and job retention. JOB OPPORTUNITIES  https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/speeches/2020/gearing-up-for-new-and-evolving-jobs-in-financial-services  4/18  04/12/2020  "Gearing up for New and Evolving Jobs in Financial Services" - Remarks by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director, Monetary Authorit…  The financial sector provides good job opportunities. Financial services employs a workforce of 170,000. It is the most productive workforce in the economy, accounting for 4.5% of Singapore’s total workforce but 13.3% of our GDP. During 2015-2019, the financial sector created 22,000 net jobs. 70% of these jobs went to Singapore Citizens, in line with the overall proportion of Singaporeans in the financial sector workforce, also at 70%.
Conclusion I will now place my observations on monetary policy in a broader context and formulate three key messages. But before doing so, I would like to point out that the decision to adopt an independent monetary policy is not a purely economic one. Central banks act within the framework that is laid down for them by the legislature and, ultimately, the sovereign power. The culture and history of a country play an important role in selecting the national monetary order. And now I come to my three key messages. My first message is that it is possible for small open economies bordering a large currency area to pursue an independent monetary policy. It allows the central bank to react to disruptions specific to its own country and to ensure price stability in the medium term. For example, following the onset of the financial crisis, central banks in Europe lowered their  10  The first central bank outside Europe to introduce negative interest rates was the Bank of Japan, at the end of January 2016. 8  BIS central bankers’ speeches  interest rates at different points in time and to varying degrees to cushion the effects of the demand slump. Both conventional and unconventional monetary policy measures helped to absorb the shocks of the euro crisis and the ECB’s substantial monetary policy easing from March 2014. My second message is that in times of crisis, monetary policy’s usual room for manoeuvre can be quickly exhausted, making unconventional measures necessary.