BIS central bankers’ speeches  13  Table 1: Participation rates by age cohort (per cent)  16-24 yrs 25-29 yrs 30-34 yrs 35-39 yrs 40-44 yrs 45-49 yrs 50-54 yrs 55-59 yrs 60-64 yrs 6569yrs 70-74 yrs 75+ yrs  Participation Rate in 1994  Participation Rate in 2007  Latest Participation Rate (2014Q1)  Annual average increase (19942007)  Annual average increase since 2007  72.30  66.77  65.75  -0.10  -0.14  83.45  84.41  93.05  0.02  0.03  82.58  84.37  93.64  0.04  0.06  84.08  84.38  93.60  0.01  0.06  86.02  86.15  92.80  -0.01  0.04  85.43  85.56  91.60  0.01  0.05  79.07  82.47  88.75  0.07  0.10  65.99  71.78  81.82  0.12  0.15  37.93  46.25  59.95  0.15  0.15  10.87  16.23  25.76  0.11  0.17  4.49  6.79  12.43  0.05  0.11  1.85  1.80  4.90  0.00  0.05  Source: Labour Force Survey and Bank calculations. 14  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Appendix: stylised description of labour market dynamics This appendix sets out a stylized description of recent labour market dynamics derived from a simple model. First, suppose firms employ labour 𝑁 to produce output 𝑌 = 𝑁1−𝛼 , where 1 − 𝛼 is the labour share of income. Firms pay a real wage of 𝑊.
Suffice it to say that efforts to address the resultant problems underpin the current far-reaching reforms undertaken by governments in the sub-region. These include financial sector reforms, public sector reforms and the privatization of public enterprises. Following several years of persistent reforms, some modest improvement has been registered in recent times. Real GDP growth rates of most countries in the sub-region averaged 4.3 percent in 2003, compared with 3.7 and 1.9 percent in 2001 and 2002 respectively. The average fiscal deficit to GDP ratio improved significantly, from 4.2 percent in 2002 to 0.7 percent in 2003, although most of the economies remained fiscally fragile. Inflation rate accelerated marginally to 6.0 percent from  BIS Review 43/2004  1  5.5 percent in 2002. Overall, the external sector of the sub-region improved somewhat as the current account position recovered from a deficit to GDP ratio of 4.3 percent in 2002 to 1.7 percent in 2003, driven by the significant turnaround in the export growth of 4.5 percent in contrast to the decline of 3.0 percent in the preceding year. Managing a post-conflict economy Here in Sierra Leone, the government has stayed the course in its reform programme with an accent on reconstruction and rehabilitation. Helped by the quick repossession of the agricultural and mining belts by government, real GDP grew steadily from 5.4 to 6.6 and to 7.0 percent in 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively. The marked recovery in the export of cocoa and diamonds contributed significantly to GDP growth.