This expansion, which is now beginning its seventh year, is the third longest of the post-World War II era and still going strong. New Jersey has been growing more slowly than the nation throughout this expansion, and the pattern of growth has been uneven. Job levels are still not back to their pre-recession highs, and the state's unemployment rate has been higher than the nation's. Last year, however, New Jersey's job growth did pick up, which is good news. As I travel around the District, I hear more and more businesspeople say they are having difficulty finding qualified workers.
Demand appears to be bumping up against available supply.
This sentiment is shared by employers in many other parts of the nation and has raised concern at the policymaking level about the risks of an overheating economy. The ultimate goal of monetary policy is maximum sustainable growth, and keeping inflation low is important to achieving that goal. If we have learned anything in the past 25 years, it is that low inflation is a plus for sustainable growth and job creation. We cannot buy lasting prosperity by letting inflation creep up. A little upward creep becomes still more creep, and prosperity starts to erode.