I would like to thank Reverend Jackson for this invitation and applaud him for his leadership on the issue of fostering opportunity in America's economically distressed areas. I know Reverend Jackson has been enormously focused on this project. Since I spoke at the first Wall Street project last year, he has held meetings around the country with experts in finance, investors, bankers, and community leaders to find practical ways to attract more capital to low income communities. We meet at a time of tremendous strength in the U.S. economy. December marked the 93rd month of the current expansion, making it the longest peacetime expansion in history.
Inflation is low.
The unemployment rate is the lowest in a generation and more Americans are working than ever before with 131 million Americans working in December. The economy has created more than 17 million net new jobs since January 1993. Economic expansion has not always helped those at the low end of the pay scale. But during the current expansion that trend may have started to reverse. Families in all income groups have seen gains in income since 1993 and families in the bottom fifth of the income scale have experienced the largest increases in income in recent years.