Bullard Speaks with Yahoo Finance about Inflation, Labor Markets

May 24, 2021

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard discussed his expectations for inflation 2021 and 2022. He also discussed the labor market, wages, cryptocurrencies and other topics during an appearance on Yahoo Finance.

Bullard talked about the nation’s tight labor market, noting that a meaningful measure is the unemployment-to-vacancy ratio. The ratio shows the number of unemployed people per job opening. Currently the ratio is 1.2-to-1, or almost one job opening for every officially unemployed worker, Bullard said.

Asked about the risks posed by climate change, Bullard said the Fed is constantly assessing financial stability risks, including those related to climate change. Climate change is slow moving and, therefore, the risk is tougher to track, he said. He also discussed cryptocurrencies and noted that the Fed is looking at a Federal Reserve-issued digital dollar.

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