by Lindsay Dunsmuir and Howard Schneider
(Reuters) – The latest U.S. jobs data shows it will take time to get inflation close to where the Federal Reserve (Fed) is aiming, Fed Chairman Jerome said on Tuesday. Powell.
The US economy added far more jobs than expected in January but wage growth slowed, the official jobs report released on Friday showed.
“We didn’t expect the numbers to be so high,” said Jerome Powell. They explain “why we think this is a process that will take some time,” he added.
The Fed boss, however, was careful not to say that the unexpected strength of the American labor market would translate into a higher rise in interest rates compared to what the officials of the American central bank had predicted at the end of 2022.
“We were all surprised,” Minneapolis Fed Chairman Neel Kashkari said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, also referring to US employment data.
More aggressive than most of his colleagues, Neel Kashkari said a month ago that rates needed to reach 5.4%. Friday’s figures support him in his analysis, he said.
“It tells me that for the moment, we do not see an impact on the labor market,” he said. “It’s been pretty sluggish, so I don’t see any reason for me to lower my rate hike forecast.”
(Report Lindsay Dunsmuir; French version Nicolas Delame, edited by Jean Terzian)
Copyright © 2023 Thomson Reuters