Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday blamed the migrant crisis for rising unemployment in the country after cutting interest rates by half a percentage point for the first time since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“If millions of people join the workforce and 100,000 jobs are created, the unemployment rate is going to rise,” Powell told reporters in response to a question about the country's current monthly job creation numbers.
“So it really depends on what the underlying trends of insecurity are in people coming into this country.”
“We know that there has been a significant influx of immigrants across the border, and that has actually been one of the factors that has led to the rise in unemployment,” he told The Wall Street Journal.
“And the other thing is the slowdown in employment rates, which is something we're watching closely, so it really depends on what's happening on the supply side.”
“And the other thing is the slowdown in employment rates, which is something we're watching closely, so it really depends on what's happening on the supply side.”
Powell's comments came after the Fed accelerated plans to cut interest rates by what was initially thought to be just a quarter of a percentage point, citing concerns about rising unemployment and slowing economic growth in recent months.
