BIS Review 38/1997  -7-  Diagram 3a  Real w ages and em ployed persons, EU and U SA, 1970-97 Index 1970=100 EU  170  USA  170  170  160  160  150  150  140  140  130  130  130  120  120  120  110  110  110  100  100  100  90  90  90  80  80  80  160  R e a l wa ges  150 140 130  E m ploy m ent  120  70  72  74  76  78  80  82  84  86  88  90  92  94  96  98  170 160 150  E m ploy m ent  140  110  R e a l wa ges  100 90 80  70  72  74  76  78  80  82  84  86  88  90  92  94  96  98  S ource : O E CD  As shown in Diagram 3a, since 1970 the average real wage in the United States has risen by a total of 15 per cent but by as much as 60 per cent in the EU area. The change in employment, as I mentioned earlier, has been the opposite.
Finally, the soon-to-be-implemented second phase of the financial sector master plan will further improve efficiency of the banking sector through reduction of regulatory costs, enhanced legal and information infrastructure, and new competition introduced in orderly manner through phased deregulation and liberalization. 2  BIS Review 118/2008  Fourth, the private sector has shown much resiliency and adaptability. For example, in response to the appreciation of the baht, exporters have made increasing uses of foreign exchange hedging instruments. At the same time, the increasingly diversified export market structure has provided Thai exporters with cushions against the current slowdown in major advanced economies. As another example but perhaps more relevant to today’s audience, our listed companies no longer over-leverage their balance sheets, turning instead to equity and retained earnings as major sources of funds. Fifth, Thailand is among the world’s top places when it comes to the ease of starting and operating businesses. The recent report, “Doing Business 2009,” by the World Bank upgraded Thailand by six places. Despite all the storms we have faced, we are now ranked at 13th place out of 181 countries (4th in Asia after Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan). According to the report, Thailand led other reformers in the region with improvements in four areas – Registering Property, Protecting Investors, Paying Taxes, and Trading across Borders. As investors, you may be interested to hear that one of the cited reform measures is amendments to the Thai Securities and Exchange Act to strengthen minority shareholder rights.