In an interview with CNBC on Friday, Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said the May jobs report was solid and noted that progress continues to be made on labor, as reported by Reuters.
Additional takeaways
“Would like to see further progress.”
“Substantial further progress doesn’t necessarily mean returning to pre-pandemic levels in labor market.”
“There are several factors affecting labor supply including health concerns and child care.”
“As schools reopen those people who had to sit things out may come back.”
“People had the ability to make choices to sit things out because they had support from unemployment benefits.”
“At this point, we are not anywhere near the point where wage gains feed into underlying inflation.”
“It is not my baseline that wage gains will feed into higher inflation but watching closely.”
“Fed wants to be deliberately patient with monetary policy.”
“Fed is looking for and basing policy decisions on outcomes.”
Market reaction
The US Dollar Index remains on the back foot after these comments and was last seen losing 0.46% on the day at 90.08.