U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed the central bank’s strong commitment to political independence after announcing a quarter-point interest rate cut and revealing a 10% staff reduction across the institution, bringing employment levels back to where they were over a decade ago as part of broader internal reforms.
00:00Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday, September 17, that the body was strongly committed to its independence after it cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point.
00:10The U.S. Central Bank is also undergoing a notable reduction in the ranks of those who work for the institution.
00:16He said the Central Bank is currently in the process of shedding 10% of its staff.
00:22Relatedly, how can you maintain the public's perception the Fed is politically independent with this dynamic?
00:28So we did welcome a new committee member today, as we always do, and the committee remains united in pursuing our dual mandate goals.
00:40We're strongly committed to maintaining our independence, and beyond that, I really don't have anything to share.
00:45So in terms of reform at the Fed, you know, we just went through a lengthy and I think very successful process of updating our monetary policy framework.
00:56I would say there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes around the assets we have in the Federal Reserve Bank system, Federal Reserve System, and at the Board.
01:08Are they the right size?
01:10We're actually going through a 10% headcount reduction through the whole Fed, including the Board, and all the Reserve Banks.
01:19The employment at the Fed at the end of that will be basically at the same level it was more than 10 years ago.
01:26So we will have had zero job growth for more than a decade.
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