The slowdown in job creation in October was welcome news because it brought the labor market into “a more balanced” and sustainable growth, said Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, on Tuesday.
“The job market is getting into better balance. So far the slowdown is what you would want, is what you would expect,” and the labor market is moving toward a sustainable growth rate, Goolsbee said, in an interview on CNBC.
The economy gained 150,000 jobs in October, a sharp slowdown from the 297,000 jobs created in the prior month.
Read: Jobs report shows 150,000 new jobs as labor market cools
At the moment, getting inflation down remains the “more important” job facing the Fed, Goolsbee said.
“At this time, for sure, we’ve got to get inflation down. That’s the number-one thing,” he added.
The Chicago Fed President is a voting member of the Fed’s interest-rate committee this year.
He said that the Fed has made a lot of progress getting inflation down, but the central bank is not done yet.
“The priority should not be on GDP growth and job growth, it should be on inflation,” Goolsbee said.
He said “inflation has come down a lot. It is possibility this year could see one of the fastest declines of inflation in the last 100 years.
In a separate TV appearance, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said he and his colleagues are not discussing preparations for any rate cuts.
See: Hard to imagine any more Fed rate hikes
Stock
DJIA
SPX
opened lower on Tuesday while the 10-year Treasury note yield
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
slipped to 4.63%.
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