The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York alerts about the weak evolution of employment
The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, William Dudley, today underlined the progress in strengthening the U.S. economy, but also warned that the employment change is weak and can jeopardize growth.
“The data show that the U.S. economy has encouraged a little more in recent months, suggesting that recovery may finally be stepping firmly,” Dudley said during a speech at the Economic Development Center of the city Syracuse (New York).
Dudley warned, according to the text of his speech, that “it is still too early to conclude that we are safe, as data highlights the labor market of March.”
The Department of U.S. Labor reported last Friday that the unemployment rate in the country stands at 8.2%, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York considered “unacceptably high”.
Dudley also raised that indicators related to the labor market remain weak, with reference to rates of labor force participation, the percentage of employees or number of hours worked, he said, are still below previous levels the recession of 2008.
In its assessment of the U.S. economy was mentioned that the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 3% in the last quarter of 2011 was the best since the first half last year, and also improved the monthly rate employment growth.
He noted that in recent months increased vehicle sales, as economic activity and the construction sector, one of the hardest hit by the crisis of 2008 and is still low.
“This development is encouraging but too early to conclude that we are safe … First, economic data were similar at this point in 2010 and 2011 but then went off,” he said.
The Federal Reserve (central bank) of the United States said Wednesday that the economic expansion between February and early April was “modest to moderate” and that the hiring of new employees at that time were stable or showed slight increases in economic twelve districts analyzed.
These data will be reviewed by the Board of Governors of the Reserve at the meeting of the Open Market Committee is scheduled for 24 and 25 April next.
Dudley said that “real economic activity is still steadily strengthened to make a dent in the overall U.S. economy,” while recalling that although growth improved in the last quarter of 2011, “was due to the inventory accumulation “and sales remained” very weak “.
Based on current data, the president of the New York Federal Reserve said it expected GDP to grow at an annual rate of 2% during the first quarter of 2012.
He noted, for example, that although car sales increases have been strong, consumer spending in the first three months of the year in the U.S. grows at a moderate pace, plus the revenues are stable.
Dudley warned that the significant increase in fuel prices is worrying and poses a risk to growth as it can impact on inflation was 2.3% in February, and expects to moderate along , 2012.
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