Fed’s ‘inclusive’ jobs promise hits reality of inflation control.
Aiming to fortify broad labor market gains among U.S. minority groups over the previous decade, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in 2020 engineered a historic promise to try to maintain that progress by giving “broad-based and inclusive” employment a status equal if not superior to the central bank’s pledge of low inflation.
Amid a still-raging escalation in prices, however, that commitment has taken a blow. Officials at the Fed’s Dec. 13-14 policy meeting acknowledged an economic slowdown needed to thwart inflation also meant “the unemployment rate for some demographic groups – particularly African Americans and Hispanics – would likely increase by more than the national average.”
