This represents a 6 percent loss – roughly on par with the loss nationwide. Less than one in four of those jobs have been recovered to date, slightly weaker than the nationwide recovery and, of course, much weaker than I would like to see. Over the past year, the private sector has seen moderate job gains led by some of the key sectors I mentioned earlier, particularly professional and business services, education and health, and leisure and hospitality. But the state continues to shed jobs in manufacturing and there has been little recovery in construction. State and local government cut back employment substantially during 2010, though there has been a modest pick up over the past year. Unemployment among New Jersey residents remains high. July’s reading of 9.8 percent puts the state’s rate well above the U.S. average. More broadly, how are the state’s families faring financially? While the median household income among New Jersey families is the second highest in the nation – at about $ – roughly a tenth of residents live in families with incomes below the poverty line. Although this rate is below the national rate of 14 percent, it varies considerably by county across the state, and is particularly high in Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties. Reducing poverty is a major challenge for policymakers. The New York Fed’s measures of regional credit conditions suggest continued financial challenges for families here.
BIS central bankers’ speeches  Monetary policy The task of evolving our liquidity insurance framework will not end, but given the substantial reforms made to it over recent years, it is likely that the focus will shift to monetary policy implementation, as and when the MPC decides to move policy away from its current settings. As the head of the Markets Directorate it is not my role to speculate when the policy setting might change, but it is my job to ensure that decisions of the MPC are implemented effectively. That involves, in particular, ensuring that we have the tools needed for effective monetary control; that is, keeping overnight market interest rates in line with Bank Rate. The Bank’s current approach is to pay Bank Rate on the full balances held in reserves accounts. This is known as the “floor” system. As set out in the SMF Annual Report, this approach remained successful at keeping sterling overnight market rates close to Bank Rate during 2014–15, with the “wedge” between policy rates and market rates relatively small over the past year. But over the year, activity in the sterling money markets remained low as the floor system, alongside a large-scale injection of reserves through QE, reduced the need for banks to transact in money markets. In the near-term, I expect that this system will remain effective at moving market rates in line with any change made to policy rates by the MPC.