Yellen: ‘The Economy Is Improving and Most Groups Are Seeing Benefits’

‘Every demographic group that we track regularly has seen improvement in their labor market situation’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT: 
REPORTER:  "Numerous polls show that the U.S. Economy — American voter number one concern is that there is a negative sentiment on the economy. Job gains have been pretty good for the past year. Consumer confidence has picked up. Why do think there is such disparity between the progress of the economy and its progress and have voters feel? How does any negative sentiment on the economy factor into your outlook and the decisions you make on monetary policy?"
YELLEN: "Let me start with your second question, if I might. In trying to judge the outlook for the economy, we do look at measures pertaining to consumer sentiment. And they are in solid territory. Household balance sheets are much improved. Gains in inflation-adjusted disposable income are running at a healthy pace. As I mentioned, households have benefited pretty significantly from lower oil prices and measures of consumer sentiment do reflect that. So they are not at lower levels. Every demographic group that we track regularly has seen improvement in their labor market situation, perhaps not equally, but almost all demographic groups have seen improvement. Most groups are seeing benefits. That said, we know that inequality is up and rising in the United States over many years, not just the last several, but going back to the mid-80’s. There has been downward pressure on real wage groups, real wage gains for groups, particularly those that are less skilled and educated. And those longer-term trends that may be associated with a number of factors, technological change and globalization have been a concern for many years. That may be a part of what we are seeing expressed."

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