To the economy. Today my colleagues on the foc and i kept Interest Rates near zero and maintained her sizable asset purchases. These measures along with our strong guidance on Interest Rates on our Balance Sheet will ensure that Monetary Policy will continue to deliver powerful support to the economy until the recovery is complete. The path of the economy continues to depend sidibe drama course of the virus but a resurgence in recent months and covid19 cases hospitalizations and deaths is causing great hardship for millions of americans and displaying on economic and cavities. Following a short rebound of economic at tivoli last summer at the pace of their coverage is moderated in recent months with the week is concentrated in the sectors of the economy most affected by the resurgence of the virus by greater social distancing. Household spending on Services Remain low especially in sectors that require people to gather closely including travel and hospitality. Household spending on goods is moderated following earlier large gains. In contrast the housing sector is more than fully recovered from the downturn supported in part by low mortgage Interest Rates rates. Business investments in manufacturing production have also picked up. The overall recovery in Economic Activity since last spring is due in part to federal stimulus payments and expanded Unemployment Benefits which have provided essential support for many families and individuals. The recently enacted Coronavirus Response and relief act will provide additional support. Overall Economic Activity remains at the lowest level before the pandemic in the path ahead remains highly uncertain. As with the well economic at to be the pace of improvement in labor market has slowed in recent months. Employment fell by 140,000 december and is continued gains in Many Industries are outweighed by significant losses in industries where the resurgence of the virus has waived further activity. Particular the hospitality sector lost half a million jobs largely from restaurants and bars. An employment rate remains elevated at 6. 7 in december and participation in the labor market is notably below prepandemic levels. Although there has been much progress in the labor market since the spring millions of americans remain out of work. The economic downturn has not fallen equally on all americans and those least able to shoulder the burden is then the hardest hit. Particular the high level of joblessness has been especially severe for lowwage workers in the Service Center and africanamericans and hispanics. The economic dislocation has upended many lives and created great uncertainty about the future. The pandemic has left a significant imprint on inflation. The following large to clients in the spring of Consumer Prices ticked up over the summer but have level leveled out more recently. For those sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic prices remained particularly soft. Overall on the 12 month basis inflation remains below are 2 below objective. While we should not underestimate the challenges we currently face several developments point to improved outlook for later this year through sufficiently widespread vaccinations what enables us to put the pandemic of kindness and return to more normal Economic Activity. Meantime continued observance of social distancing measures in Wearing Masks will help us reach that whole has soon as possible. Fiscal policy will help households in this has is whether the downturn as well as lasting damage to the economy that could impede recovery. Edition as weve seen since last summer the economy has proven more richly than expected in part reflecting the adaptability of households and businesses. Finally Monetary Policy is playing a key role in supporting the recovery and will continue to do so. The feds response to this crisis has been guided by a mandate to promote maximum employment and stable prices for the American People along with our responsibilities to promote stability in the Financial System. Today we unanimously reaffirmed her longer rankles and policy strategies as we typically do each january. As we said in a statement we view employment as a broadbased inclusive goal. Ability to achieve maximum employment in the years ahead depends importantly on having longerterm employment expectations at 2 rate as the committee reiterated todays policy statement with inflation running consistently below 2 we will aim to achieve inflation moderately above 2 for some time so that inflation averages 2 over time and longerterm Inflation Expectations remain well anchored at 2 . Expect to make and accommodate his stance in Monetary Policy until employment and inflation outcomes are cheaper the gratuitous rates we continue to expect they will be appropriate to maintain the current zero to one quarter target branch for the funds rate is the labor Market Conditions have reached maximum employment and inflation is at 2 on track to moderately exceed 2 for some time. In addition we will continue to increase our holdings for treasury by 80 billion. Month and life 30 billion front until substantial further progress has been made for maximum price stability goals for the increase in our Balance Sheet since last march has materially use financial predictions and was providing substantial support of the economy. The economy is a long way from her appointment and is likely to take time for substantial progress to be achieved. Our Forward Guidance with the federal funds rate along with their Balance Sheet guidance would sure that they Monetary Policy remains accommodative as a recovery ties the path of the federal funds rate in Balance Sheet to progress toward reaching our employment and inflation goals progress towards our goals would slow the guides would convey her attention to increase policy accommodations through lower expected path in the federal funds rate in the higher expected path of the Balance Sheet. Overall or Interest Rate and Balance Sheet tools are providing powerful support of the economy and will continue to do so. We have also taken action to more directly support the flow of credit and economy deploying or emergency lending powers to an unprecedented extent enabled in large part by financial backing to support congress and the treasury. Although the cares act facilities are no longer open to new activity no other facilities remain in place. To conclude we understand that her of actions affect families and businesses across the country but everything we do is we do isnt serviced or public mission. We are committed to using our full range of tools to support the economy and help assure that the recovery from this difficult period will be as robust as possible. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Thank you. Thank you for taking our questions. I wondered if you would first react to the stocks this week and secondarily you and your colleagues have repeatedly said that you dont use credential tools as they find it defense. Im wondering what your plan is if you see some of large stability risk emanating from an onbase Financial Sector in the coming months especially as it relates to activity and what you see as the situation there. On your first question i dont want to comment on a particular company or todays market activity are things like that. Its not something i would typically comment on. In terms of Macroprudential Policy tools as you know no doubt we rely on this macropotential policy does particular the stress test and the elevated levels of liquidity and capitol and also resolution planning that we impose on large financial institutions. We dont use time variant testis do and we think its a good approach for us to to use one set her eyes on because we dont really think we would be successful in every case in picking the exact right time to intervene in the market. You really asked about the nonbanks in the nonbank sector. We monitor financial conditions vary broadly and while we dont have jurisdiction over many areas in the nonbank or other agencies do so we do coordinate to the Financial Stability Oversight Council counsel and with other agencies who have responsibilities for nondank supervision and in fact as you know in the last crisis the Banking System held up fairly well so far and the dislocation that we saw from the outsized economic shock of the pandemic appeared in the nonbank sector so right now we are engaged in carefully examining and understanding and thinking about what in the nonbank sector will need to be addressed in the next year or so. Thank you. Thank you so much chair powell. Have a question on fiscal policy. Last year you consistently said the economy needs more fiscal support and i believe when the 900 billiondollar package was approved in december we have now a new president and a new congress and a weakening shortterm outlook they do believe the economy still needs support on the fiscal side and in what areas . I guess i would start icing the fiscal response we have seen to this downturn has been strong and i think we can say now its been sustained after the passage of the most recent act in late december and thats really a key reason why their cover has been the strongest its been. Fiscal policy has been essential and we look back on the history of this period will see a strong and sustained fiscal policy response. I would add as i mentioned we are a long way from a full recovery. Something like 9 Million People remain unemployed as a consequence of the pandemic. That is as many people as lost their jobs at the peak of the Global Financial crisis in the great recession. The path ahead is still uncertain so with that said the judge month how much to spend in what way is really one for congress and the administration and not for the fed and these discussions are going on right now. There is a discussion right now those precise questions and that is appropriate but not for us to play a role in talking about specific policies. Yankee. Steve liesman. Mr. Chairman. I wonder if i could followup on the question. I understand you addressed issues of valuations to a macroprudential policies but there is a range of assets from bitcoins to Corporate Bonds the stock market in general to some of these more specific meter a crisis in stocks. How do you address the concerns that asset purchase at zero to straights are fueling the bubble that took part in economic fallout . Let me provide a little context. The shock from the pandemic wasnt precedented both in its nature and its size and the amount of unemployment that it created and the shock to the Economic Activity. Theres nothing close to it in modern economic history. Our response was really to that and we have done what they could first to restore market function and to provide a bit of relief then to support the recovery and hopefully we will be able to do the third thing which is to avoid longerrun damage to the economy. Our role assumed by congress as maximum employment and stable prices and looking after Financial Stability. In a world where almost a year later we are still 9 million jobs at least thats one way of counting it can be counted higher than that short of maximum employment and people out of the labor force the real Unemployment Rate is close to 10 if you include people in the labor force. Very much appropriate that Monetary Policy be a common due to support maximum employment and price stability which is getting inflation back to 2 and averaging 2 over time. On matters of Financial Stability we have a framework really dont look at one or two things. We have made the framework public after the financial crisis so we can be held accountable and that things that we look at our esight asset prices and leverage in the Banking System and the nonBanking System which is to say corporate and households and we look at funding risk. If you look across the range of readings they are each different but we monitor them carefully and i would say finances debility and vulnerabilities overall are moderate. Our overall goal is to ensure that the Financial System itself is resilient to shocks of all kinds that its strong and resilient than that includes not only the banks that money market funds and all different kinds of nonbank financial structures as well. So when we get to the nonfinancial year we dont have jurisdiction over that so i would just say however there are many things that go in as you know to setting asset prices so if you look at where its been driving asset prices in the last couple of months it isnt Monetary Policy, its expectation of vaccines and also fiscal policy. Those are the news items that have been driving asset purchases, sorry asset valleys in values recent recent months. No Monetary Policy does play a role there but thats how we look at it and i think the connection between low Interest Rates and asset values is probably something that is not as tight as people think because a lot of different factors are driving asset prices at any given time. If you dont mind mr. Chair do you rule out or see as one of your tools in the toolkit the idea of adjusting Monetary Policy to address asset values . As you know that is one of the very difficult questions and all of Monetary Policy and we dont rule it out as a theoretical matter but we clearly with two macroprudential tool supervisor tools and other tools rather than Monetary Policy in addressing Financial Stability issues. The Monetary Policy strengthens Economic Activity and job creation through fairly well understood channels and a Strong Economy is actually a great supporter of Financial Stability. That will mean and strong wellcapitalized institutions and households will be working so we know that. We dont understand the tradeoff between, the sense of it is would you raise Interest Rates and thereby tighten financial conditions and reduce Economic Activity in order to address asset doubles and things like that . Will that even help . Bullet cause more damage . I think thats unresolved and is something we look at is not theoretically ruled out but not something we have ever done and not something we had planned to do. We would rely on macropotential and other tools to deal with Financial Stability. Back thank you. Michael derby. Thank you very much. How do you determine whether it will be tampering how much inflation is the fed willing to tolerate before it acts to restrain price pressures . On inflation a couple of things that are worth mentioning. One is just that we know we measure inflation on a trailing 12 month basis and has we lap the end low inflation readings of march and april of last year we will see it move up a few pence. This is just the effects and thats a transient thing we think will pass. Theres also the possibility of forecast that as the economy fully reopens there will be an approach to spending because people be enthusiastic that the pandemic is over potentially that could. Some upward pressure on inflation. Again we would see that as something likely to be transient and not to be very large. In both cases we dont see those as either lasting or particularly large so the way would react as we need to be patient and not react if we see small and what would we view as likely transient effects on inflation. I think it helps to look back at the inflation dynamics that the United States has had for some decades and noticed that there has been a significant disinflationary pressure for some time for a couple of decades but inflation has averaged less than 2 for quarter of a century and the inflation dynamics with a the low persistence of inflation is very much intent. Those things change over time and when to stand inflation dynamics evolve constantly over time but they dont change rapidly so we think its unlikely anything we see now would result and you know troubling inflation. What we said as we like to see below 2 run moderately above 2 for some time. We have not adopted a formula. We are not going to adopt a formula. We use a policy rules and formulas and everything we do. Consult them constantly but we do not set policy by them, we do not do that. Youre going to preserve an element of judgment and again we will seek inflation moderately above 2 for some time. We will show what that means i get inflation above 2 , the way to achieve credibility on that is to actually do it. So that is what we are planning on doing. Suspect thank you, rachel siegel. Suspect thank you for taking our question. I have a twopronged question about vaccines produce specifically mention progress in the rollout of vaccines. But theres still plenty we dont know about supply over the coming weeks and months. Im curious al q you and your colleagues are factoring in maxine rollout and funding for distribution your forecast. What that time i looks like . Secondly i wonder if you yourself have been vaccinated along with other members . Thank you. Soon xo, in terms of the rollout of the vaccines, we see what everyone else sees, right . We see we are vaccinating people at a rate of about 1 million day apparently. It will take quite a while to get to the numbers at the experts say are required to get to herd immunity. And we think it is going to be a struggle. You will notice that we said that the pandemic still provides considerable Downside Risks to the economy. That is one of the reasons why is the slowness of the rollout. Another reason why is just the arrival of the new virus strains. We dont how to model that. We can have a base case but we realize no one knows how this new vaccine will roll out. How successful it will be, how high we will be able to drive a fox nation and those sorts of things. We have a base case. But we always look at the range of possibilities. In this casebook of the Downside Risks. That is what we really do. We set policy so we are going to remain accommodative until we see improvement in the economy not just in the outlook and the data. That is how we think about that. I would also add, theres nothing more important to the economy now than people getting vaccinated. If you think about the places where the economy is weak, i mentioned bars and restaurants, thats 400,000 jobs we lost last month. That is all because of the spread of the pandemic. Many other areas of the economy theres actually job creation good production and some service part industries as well. We are just not going to be able to get that last group of people back to work. It is a big group of people. Not until we get the pandemic behind us. Weve not won this yet, weve not succeeded in doing this yet. We need to stay focused on as a country and get there. We clearly can we have to stay focused. That includes us at the fed Monetary Policy. I have been vaccinated once and expect to get my second vaccine sometime soon. Thank you. Stomach michael mckee. I have a question i was going to ask. But he to follow up for a second on the questions about the markets and macro credential. That is you have to have one tool you can use, would you be discussing, have you discussed raising emergent requirements under regulation t. And if not why not . Stomach know we have not done that. Remember we are focused on a maximum employment, Financial Stability aside to find it. The broad Financial Sector. On that is not over the years we consult the fact we have that authority. But no its not something theyre looking at right now at all. My followup question, let people in the markets think youre basically stuck right now. Cant really go lower with a zero balance rejecting negative Interest Rates. It cant really go higher because of the threat of the tapered tantrum. As a federal locked into a very narrow corridor now . And if not you did say you would signal any change in Interest Rates a long time ahead. The fed president bill dudley say theres no way you can avoid a tapered tantrum so how do you do that . First we think our policy stance is just right. We think it is providing significant support for Economic Activity and hiring. We adopted a new Monetary Policy claim up with flexible in august. In september we implemented rate guidance that was consistent with them based on that new framework. In december we did the same thing for asset purchases. We now have strong guidance on rates and on asset purchases this providing very strong support for Economic Activity. If you look at the sectors of the economy that are sensitive you will see very strong activity. Housing, durable goods, automobile sales, so our policies are working pretty thinker policy stance is right. That said, theres clearly more we can do with asset purchases for example, but is until we can do more with the can strengthen our guidance if we were to think that was appropriate. What you see is an economy or what is holding it back is not the lack of policy support from the fed. It is the pandemic. It is the spread of the disease and peoples reluctance or inability to partake in certain kinds of Economic Activity which amount to meaningful part of the economy. That is what i would say. There are certain things we can do but we think were in in the right place. In terms of tapering, but is just premature. We just created to guidance. We said we wanted to see substantial further progress toward our goals before we release yourselves getting to that point will communicate clearly to the public. Nobody will be surprising the time comes. We will do that wellin advance of actually considering what will be a pretty gradual taper. If i might, your policies are working and maybe you can do more. The question is can you stop doing it when its time . Yes. Weighed all of the same questions after Global Financial crisis. We raised Interest Rates, we froze the balances sheet size and then we froze the Balance Sheet side. Theres no reason we wont be able to do that again. In fact we learned a lot from that experience. We understand, as we understood them but even more so the way to do it is to communicate wellin advance, to do predictable things and to move gradually. That is what were going to do pretty going be very transparent. But honestly, the whole focus on exit is premature if i would say. We are focused on finishing the job we are doing, which is support the economy, give the economy to support it needs for their people out there whove lost their jobs. It is essential to get them back to work as quickly as possible. To do everything we can to do that. That is our primary focus right now. It is too soon to be worried about that. We come to exit, we have an understanding of how to do what well do it very carefully. But in the meantime our focus is on giving the economy the supported needs. Thank you, victoria guida. Stomach just wanted to go back for a second, we just had a 90 billiondollar package. In congress to talk about doing more. Do you expect more a directly to consumers to be inclusionary, specifically how should lawmakers be about concerning levels of inflation . I would say that again, we have been struggling with this inflationary enforces for some time. If you look around the world, look in western europe, look at japan, around the world large economies have felt much more downward pressure on inflation, have fallen short of their inflation goals for some time now. That is the broad global macroeconomic context that we all live in. And we believe those Global Forces which are aging demographics, advancing technology and globalization. Those forces are still in effect. They may slow down and it is an interesting question the extent to which globalization may slow down or even reverse. Notwithstanding that, inflation dynamics the United States have consisted of a flat phillips curve and low persistence for a long time. We do not expect in the near term that will change significantly. It may evolve over time but significant time. These things are changing but they do not change a rapid rate. I much more worried about falling short of a complete recovery and losing peoples careers and lives because they dont go back to work and time things like that. Not just to their lives but to the United States economy the capacity of the economy. More concerned about that and about the possibility which exists of higher inflation print frankly, we welcomed slightly higher somewhat higher inflation. The troubling inflation someone like me grew up with seems far away and unlikely in both domestic and global context that we have been for some time. Thank you, steve matthews, bloomberg. Reporter treasury secretary yellen in a moment to her employees yesterday, the close working license ship with the federal reserve. And i am wondering how you describe your rice and ship with the treasury under yellen. If you had met with treasury secretary yellen and or President Biden he has taken office. And secondly, about that as you know in the last four years there is constant criticism of the fed from the president and other officials. Do you have any kind of assurance that this will now be more of a hands off attitude in terms of commenting on Monetary Policy from the administration . I have the highest respect and admiration for secretary yellen. And i am sure that we are going to have a good working relationship together, absolutely sure. We will also have a good institutional relationship between the fed and the treasury. I expect that will be very good and very productive. It will be collaborative, we Work Together. The way it works is we know the the agencies know each other well. Its finance ministries in banks around the world we notice tanner lanes, we know we have different authorities, we know we Work Together on some things to for the benefit of the public purdum absolute sure were going to do that. I havent spoken to secretary yellen. Going to call her chair yellen bus the time youre going to have to patient with me. Ive not spoken to her since i congratulated her on being nominated. I do expect very soon to begin our regular calls and ultimately meetings which have gone on really for 70 years the treasury secretary and the fed chair have had weekly or so meetings, lunches, breakfast, calls, depending on the situation. I expect that will happen soon. Ive not met the president , President Biden. I did not have any comment on your last question. It would not want to comment one way or the other. Direct just a followup, some emergency programs that will expire march 31 with the fed and the treasury of worked on. Do you have an expectation whether those will be left to expire then . Or if they will be extended . I will just say our facilities were very successful in supporting the economy during its darkest moments. I believe protected the loss of millions of jobs. We are going to continue to monitor conditions throughout the economy and kind of emergency conditions arise and required under that law down emergency letting tools or remain available. Now ive had no discussions with anybody at treasury on that because i havent had any discussions with anybody at treasury other than high level meetings with the Transition Team a month or so ago. And once we start having those meetings, of course i will observe the longstanding practice of not talking about confidential discussions for it as another not been any discussions at all. Thank you, howard schneider, reuters. Leary couple questions in the statement regarding the coronavirus, you remove the time reference when it comes to the economic outlook. It sounds considerable rest of the outlook. Should we go back to a positive change kind of the end game of this down the road . Or is it more that you are worried it could last longer . And in a related issue have you given any guidance yet to the fed staff and when the fed itself might resume inperson events . In the statement on the language, we dropped in the medium term. The risk is in the near term frankly part as i mention it is the roll out of the vaccine. It is the arrival of new strains that are more contagious and perhaps more verily. And also just certainly in the ongoing spread of the virus print is in the near term not in the mediumterm. Were thinking mediumterm were thinking of longerterm scarring and things like that. Nonetheless, to go to your second question as i mentioned in my opening remarks, there is good evidence to support a stronger economy in the second half of this year. In fact if you look as we do at a range of private forecasters, what was their forecast in december . And what is the forecast now . Right across the board. Much are forecast for growth. Because the ongoing rollout of the vaccine and fiscal policy. Expectations and the cra act getting done. There is a positive case there. Think of that is the basic case, a Strong Economy the second half of the year. The language says there is still, i forget the exact language, down side risks we use an adjective. It was considerable risk to the economic outlook. There are considerable risks to the economic outlook. Nonetheless, that is a more positive outlook. That is really how i would parse that for you. Do not know when we are going to come into work braden actually in the building today and i do not know when that will be. I cant wait to be working in person again. We have been able to work successfully remotely, we really have it. We are not going to push people when theyre uncomfortable, were going to wait to people are comfortable and make sure its well and truly time to get back together in person. Thank you, haner lang. Hi, thank you so much for taking our questions. You said in december restrictions on Bank Dividend payments and share purchases i want to know what factors the federal be looking at determine what level banks will turn out the Second Quarter and will be can expect such a decision . Okay so, we are monitoring that on an ongoing basis, continuing to evaluate our restrictions. We have not made a decision whether to continue them in the Second Quarter or not. We are going to look at the whole range of information, including Economic Activity, thanking activity, the success and fox nation. All of those will go into our assessment of what the right answer is to that question. I think we have been careful about rolling back those restrictions. I am pleased with barbie are, lets remember the banks subject to the stress tests have very large reserves and also increase their capitol and higher capitol ratios now at the beginning of the pandemic. The Banking System is held up well here. But we are going to be careful about this. And you know, move based on data and all of the datable may make that decision. Thank you, edward lawrence. Mr. Chairman thank you for taking the question. Im interested in the housing sector. Prep house prices are rising 9 in some areas because of low Interest Rates. Are you concerned about a bubble forming there yet . And is there a price increase that you are looking at work might change the level is a continuation of that, is the bubble in the corporate debt cycle more concerning for you . So on housing that level of housing activity is at its highest level since before the Global Financial crisis in some measure. Got a very strong rebound in housing. Some of the tightness and Housing Markets we think has led to the significant price increases this year we think is a passing phenomenon. Theres a lot of pent up demand a one time thing happening with people who are spending all of their time in their house and they are thinking either i need a bigger house or i need another house, a different house or a second house in some cases. There is a one time shift in demand that we think will get satisfied. Also will call for supply. We think the price increases are unlikely to be sustained for all of those reasons. So, you asked about corporate gas i debt. Rebate im concerned thats a bubble youre watching . We monitor all the financial part pretty carefully. Whats happened in the corporate debt market, beginning with the announcement of our Corporate Credit facility you have seen lenders lending and borrowers are borrowing. Youve seen relatively significant fewer defaults than we expected but there were a lot of downgrades in default at the beginning. Those have really slowed down three by the way the same is true for bank loans. Banks are not experiencing the kinds of defaults that we were all concerned about in the early months of the pandemic part it is just not materializing. Theyre having two recent versus some of their loss reserves. Corporate debt spread are tight. They have tightened, they were very wide of course during the acute phase of the pandemic. They are now at the lower end of their typical range. We do monitor thats. It is not something we can control or operate on directly. But we do watch those things. And in a sense it is Good Companies have in to finance themselves during this period. Then able to stay in business, theyve been able to keep employees working for thats a good thing. Thanks, chris. Thanks. Then she suggested the concern from the pandemic is perhaps a shorterterm concern thats why you remove some of the language, can you talk about the impact so far you feel structural impacts, how would you characterize those i know that is been a major concern, have longterm damage the job market or has there been some success in preventing that . And is there a previous recession how to characterize the damaging job market here in terms of things like permanent job loss, workers that need to shift industry that kind of thing . The big thing is the jury is out. This has been a concern from the very beginning is the concern that people, if they become disconnected from the industry or the job that these to work in, it can be years or never when they get back into the labor force. Particularly for people who are well along in their careers. The same kind of scarring for Small Businesses that do not have the resources you need to get through this. We have had a big concern about both of those. We havent seen as much of it as we feared, that is a good thing. As i said the jury is out here, nine or 10 Million People still out of work because of the pandemic. Their big chunk of them are people who worked in public jobs in the service sector. And theyve gotten a lot of support from fiscal policy. In some from Monetary Policy. The question is, getting them back to work, it is harder, it takes longer empirically to find that next job if youre looking at a brandnew industry. It is not easy to change careers completely midcareer. So again that stresses the urgency we feel and others feel at fully defeating the pandemic, finishing the job in getting back to a place where it is safe to have to stay in hotels, to fly on airplanes, to go to sporting events in movie theaters in all of those things. Those people are still at risk. We are still very, very focused on that group of people with our policy. And the way we look at the economy, so many people have had that bridge across the pandemic. We talk about that at the beginning. For many people it is clear that theyve made it across in their job is okay in their houses okay. And you know, it has been terribly inconvenient, painful, schools are close and things like that. Theres a bunch of people yet have not found that bridge yet, we are very focused on that. And of course the other thing is were going to a different economy. We are going to be learning more about that as we go. Clearly we are learning things can be done for me remote location but we are learning technology can replace people even more than we thought. And some of that is happening. As we get into this, even after the economy fully recovers i think we are still going to need to keep people in mind whose lives have been disruptive because they have lost the work they did. And i think it would be wise as a country for the longterm capacity of the country if we were to look out for those people in help them find their way back into the labor force. Even if it means continuing support for an additional period of time. Period if can have a quick followup. Yesterday with domestic policy adviser at the white house, the citigroup study said closing economic racial gap could end up to 5 trillion years and 6 million in jobs. Do you agree Racial Disparities are currently drag on the economy . And if so what can the feds do proactively to narrow those gaps including regulatory . I strongly agree with that as a matter fact. Think if you look at either, look at employment gaps or unemployment gaps or wage gaps, wealth gaps, home owning and gaps, all of those persistent gaps that exist, even controlling for many other factors, you will see they are persistent and they are very difficult to explain. And so, the reason we talk about inequality, racial and equality in particular is it goes to our job which is to achieve maximum employment. Which links up we went the potential output of the United States to be as high as it possibly can be. We want an economy where everybody can take part. Everybody can put their labor in and share in the prosperity of our great economy. That his way once. That is how the u. S. Economy can be bigger, stronger, growing faster is if we can achieve a more broader prosperity. So in terms of our tools, of course that project is one for the Broader Society for the private sector for the fiscal policy, we have a role to play. Its how we think of the labor market. Principally with a maximum employment as a broad and inclusive goal, what we are saying is were not just going to look at the headline, we never did really are going to look at different demographic groups including women, minorities, others are not going to reach maximum employment until weve reached maximum employment. And we havent of theres lots of pockets of people not participating are not employed for mate labor market for those are things we can do. There can also do a tremendous amount of research on these issues. We have such a focus on these issues now, we have a webpage relatively new or you can access all of it. Its a lot of activities in our division of Consumer Affairs its lots of research and it is also our enforcement of the fair lending laws and things like that. I think everybody has a role to play here. It is a national goal, and national job we are going to do our part of the job. Something we are strongly committed to. Thank you, for the last question were going to go to scott it npr. Thanks mr. Chairman pretty send opening remarks the economy and many ways had proven more resilient than people expected. That reflected the adaptability of households and businesses. Are there adaptations that caught you by surprise . Maybe related to remote work or new ways to do on site work at the economy is proven tougher than the output . If you go back to the beginning there was a real concern, just take the Financial Markets, suddenly all those big buildings all over new york city and around the world where people work in the Financial Markets with terminals and everything everybody had to go home and take the terminals with them. I think there was a real concern there be a tremendous loss of functionality just at the time of the Financial Markets were under historically difficult conditions. And yet it worked out okay. I think many people in the Financial Sector are still working with her terminals at home. Including people on the trading floors on virtual trading floors. Some of that is reversing now. We have definitely learned we can do more work from home and many, many different lines of order. Thats not possible if your job involves being in a place, doing personal services. For many people its not possible not very much his skus to higher income, higher educated people being able to work from home and others not so much. So i think we have learned that. Even conditional on that belief seen the wave in the south and the west, i think intuitively having seen what happened in march and april, we expected there to be a significant hit to Economic Activity. People kind of got on with their lives and dealt with it. I had much smaller effect on Economic Activity that we expected. Then comes so much larger, very, very large wave was very much forecast of going indoors, the cold weather all of that. Look at the decembers job report. Big job losses in that part of the service sector. I mention 400,000 jobs in bars and restaurants its another 100,000 and similar kinds of activities. You look elsewhere, its not having an effect. Even purchasing manager indexed areas of the economy that are not directly, really directly exposed to the pandemic and their Economic Activity. They are doing okay, they are. Housing is a great example. The way the housing industry works, when you buy a house or slotted in person contacts. They managed to pretty much immediately go to a more virtual, with all of the technology they were able to completely avoid that. The Housing Market has been really strong, notwithstanding it is now quite virtual rather than in person. Theres still a lot of adapting but you cannot, hotels, sporting venues, movie theaters restaurants bars its millions and millions of people we need to finish the job thats a main thing about the economy is getting the pandemic under control, getting everyone vaccinated, getting people to work masks. Betsy single cspans washington journal. Every day were taking your calls live on the air, on the news of the day, and we discussed policy issues that impact you. Coming up thursday morning, we will talk about the debate over reopening schools during the covid19 pandemic with becky pringle. Then a discussion on the future of the gop and President Bidens executive order on racial equality. With Republican National Committee Senior advisor for black media affairs. Watch washington journal live at 7 00 eastern thursday morning. And be sure to join the discussion with the phone calls, facebook comments, text messages, and tweets. Heres a look at our live coverage thursday. At 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan, the Senate Banking committee holds a confirmation hearing for marcia fudge to be secretary of housing and urban development. An Cecilia Rouse to had the white House Counsel of economic advisors. On cspan2 the Senate Returns to consider the nomination of Homeland Security secretary. And on cspan3 at 1045 a. M. Easter, House Speaker nancy pelosi speaks to reporters about the legislative agenda. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivered her state of the state
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