Job Market Slowing, But Not Stagnant, Says Fed’s Bostic

The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Raphael Bostic, stated on Tuesday that while the labor market is experiencing some cooling, this does not indicate a significant slowdown, as job gains continue to be strong.

Bostic commented at a meeting with foreign consular officers in Atlanta, “The labor market is slowing, but I wouldn’t say it’s slow.” He noted that monthly job creation is still “pretty robust.”

His remarks followed the release of the nonfarm payrolls report, which indicated that the U.S. economy added 245,000 jobs in September, significantly surpassing the expected 150,000.

While acknowledging that inflation has moderated, Bostic remained cautious, stating that it is still “too high” and emphasized that there is more work to be done in order to steer it back towards the 2% target. “That’s still quite a ways to go and I want people to understand that I’m still laser-focused on the inflation target,” he remarked.