Yellen Expects U.S. Economy to Return to Full Employment in 2022
March 08 2021 - 10:27AM
Dow Jones News
By Paul Kiernan
WASHINGTON -- The $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package passed
by the Senate should allow the U.S. economy to return to full
employment in 2022, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said
Monday.
"We expect the resources here to really fuel a very strong
economic recovery," Ms. Yellen said in an interview on MSNBC. "I'm
anticipating, if all goes well, that our economy will be back to
full employment, where we were before the pandemic, next year."
Without the legislation, the Congressional Budget Office has
estimated that the labor market could take until 2024 to recover,
Ms. Yellen noted.
Ms. Yellen reiterated that she doesn't expect the spending to
cause the economy to overheat, resulting in high inflation and
interest rates.
"I really don't think that that's going to happen," Ms. Yellen
said. "We had a three-and-a-half percent unemployment rate before
the pandemic and there was no sign of inflation increasing. It was
too low rather than too high."
Write to Paul Kiernan at paul.kiernan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 08, 2021 10:12 ET (15:12 GMT)
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