Fed's Raskin Bemoans Low-Wage Nature of Jobs Recovery

Reuters
Published: Friday, 22 Mar 2013 | 9:22 AM ET

Too much of the recent growth in employment has been concentrated in low-wage and temporary jobs, leaving the recovery on shaky ground, a top Federal Reserve official said Friday.

Sarah Raskin, a member of the Fed's board of governors, said monetary policymakers are doing all they can to promote stronger economic growth and beef up hiring, and cited improving labor market conditions. But she added interest rates are a blunt tool that cannot help direct the types of jobs that are created, noting one-quarter of U.S. workers are now considered low-wage.

Pointing to a sharp post-recession rise in poverty, a subject not often the focus of speeches by Fed officials, Raskin also argued the rise of temporary employment, which she said is approaching a record, was further widening an already large gap between rich and poor Americans.

"Our country cannot achieve prosperity without addressing the powerful undertow created by flat wages and tenuous financial security for so many millions of Americans," Raskin said in prepared remarks to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition's annual conference.

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