00:00How concerned are you about the slowdown in the jobs market for households at home,
00:03especially younger Americans struggling to land a job?
00:06So it's an interesting labor market, and obviously we think it's appropriate that we reduce our rates
00:12so that we become more neutral, which presumably will be better for the labor market.
00:17You see people who are sort of more at the margins, so kids coming out of college
00:22and younger people, minorities, are having a hard time finding jobs.
00:27The overall job finding rate is very, very low.
00:30However, the layoff rate is also very low.
00:33So you've got a low-firing, low-hiring environment, and the concern is that if you start to see layoffs,
00:40the people who are laid off, there won't be a lot of hiring going on,
00:43so that could very quickly flow into higher unemployment.
00:46In a healthier economy, healthier labor market, there would be jobs for those people,
00:51but now the hiring rate is very, very low.
00:53So that's been a growing concern over the last few months,
00:57and it's one of the reasons why we think it's appropriate that we begin to shift our policy focus
01:01toward a more balanced one.
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