Yellen: ‘Changes in Tax Policy Will Likely Provide Some Lift … Effects of Any Tax Package Remain Uncertain’

‘Overall, we continue to expect that the economy will expand at a moderate pace’

EXCERPT:

YELLEN: “Overall, we continue to expect that the economy will expand at a moderate pace. While changes in tax policy will likely provide some lift to economic activity in coming years, the magnitude and timing of the macroeconomic effects of any tax package remain uncertain. Smoothing through hurricane-related fluctuations, job gains averaged 170,000 per month over the three months ending in November, well above estimates of the pace necessary to absorb new entrants to the labor force. The unemployment rate has declined further in recent months and at 4.1 percent in November, it was modestly below the median of FOMC participants’ estimates of its longer run normal level."

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