Claudia Buch: Experience and evidence

Speech by Prof Claudia Buch, Vice-President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, at the graduation ceremony for Master's students of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, 7 December 2018.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

When you came to Frankfurt some years ago to begin your studies, you had many lectures, seminars, exams, and new concepts ahead of you - but also new friendships, new environments and new ideas. Today, you have made it and have reached another milestone. You will be looking forward to being able to apply your knowledge to the real world, to not having to sit through any more tedious exams, and - not least - to earning your own money.

But this joy is no doubt also mixed with scepticism. Compared with just a few years ago, the job market situation will certainly be less of a concern for you. Demographic change means that you are all desperately needed to take on important tasks in our society. German unemployment is currently at its lowest level since reunification, and it is below the 5% mark for the first time since the early 1980s (Federal Employment Agency 2018). Many economists would call this full employment (Paqué 2012).