Powell and Yellen Testify On Economic Support and Growth

“So the reason that unemployment doesn’t go down further, given the level of growth, is really just that we see participation expanding — it’s a different margin, it’s people coming back into the labor market. And that actually holds the unemployment rate up is a highly desirable outcome. But this was the biggest drop in participation since World War II. That’s part of it. There are a bunch of other things that go into it. And, of course, there’s a good amount of uncertainty around that.” “The world faces a profound crisis in connection with climate. And it is appropriate for governments, the private sector as well, to focus on how we can mitigate the risks to encourage banks and financial institutions, lenders more generally, to think about the potential adverse impacts of investments that they may make, and perhaps more importantly, to understand that eventually we are committed to going to net zero emissions by 2050. And that that can affect the returns that they receive on investment.”