Labor market is 'pretty healthy': Former Atlanta Fed president
Former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Dennis Lockhart joins Morning Brief to discuss the state of the labor market and whether the election may get in the way of the Federal Reserve's rate cut path ahead. Lockhart calls the labor market "pretty healthy," adding that the unemployment rate is not at an alarming rate. "It's a slowing labor market. I think what's happening is that hiring is slowing, but widespread firing has not developed. And the Fed intends to try to keep the overall growth level and overall health of the economy such that that widespread firing does not happen," he tells Yahoo Finance. He notes that as the US economy came out of the pandemic, there was an "overheated" labor market. Now, the labor market is beginning to slow in what could be seen as normalization. He adds, "It's really hard to look at this labor market and say that it's going haywire in some way." As the 2024 presidential election lies in the middle of the Fed's rate cut path ahead, many fear that the central bank runs the risk of appearing political. However, Lockhart explains, "the committee almost totally ignores the politics around this... I can count on one hand the number of times anyone even raised a political consideration. It is simply not part of the process." He adds, "Chairman Powell has emphasized that over and over again — they just come to the meeting and decide what they think is the best policy stance for the economy, and that's it. It's just about the data and the economy." For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief. This post was written by Melanie Riehl
