But there are also changes in various trends in the Swedish labour market following the financial crisis that may have contributed to the low prices and wages – an increasing number of people entering the labour force, compensation rates in the social insurance systems falling and employees’ negotiating power appearing to have weakened. Developments since the financial crisis 2008–2009 thus indicate that inflation and resource utilisation are not governed solely by short-term changes in demand. Structural changes and more trend-like changes also play a role. We therefore need to give more consideration to such changes in the monetary policy analysis. In addition, I have illustrated that the flatter Phillips curve, that is, the weaker covariation between unemployment and wages, does not necessarily mean that the impact of monetary policy has declined. Monetary policy affects demand and resource utilisation through many different channels. Unemployment is one channel, but labour force participation, employment, and job vacancies are some examples of other channels through which monetary policy can have an impact. 25 The term “unconventional” may be a little misleading in the sense that, for instance, purchases of government bonds do not go beyond the bounds of what central banks normally do when conducting monetary policy. 22 [24]  Thirdly, changes in trends are often difficult to detect immediately and are difficult to assess. One consequence of this is that central banks should act more cautiously and rely more on historical correlations that are more certain.
The period following the financial crisis 2008-2009 has to a large extent been concerned with how the labour market might be affected by the rapid development in information and communication technology, especially the so-called digitalisation, which makes it possible to automate an increasing number of work tasks – both routine tasks and some more advanced ones. The increasingly rapid globalisation process, which will probably involve greater labour mobility between countries and regions, has also attracted attention. At the same time, we are moving towards a population structure with an ageing population and we have large migration flows around the world. It is difficult to know exactly how this will affect the labour market and the way it functions. I do not intend to speculate on this, but instead discuss some changes that appear to be a trend that has taken place over the past ten years. Trends on the labour market following the financial crisis Over the past ten years there has been an almost trend rise in both labour force participation – the proportion of the population of working age in the labour force – and the employment rate – the number of employed as a percentage of the working age population. This is an essentially positive development, as it reflects the fact that an increasing number of people have the opportunity to get a job and that more people have got a job.