city was once an epicenter of the pandemic : we were hit early, and we were hit hard. the virus spread rapidly, leading to widespread hospitalizations and a devastating death toll. during the initial months of the pandemic, one out of five jobs in the city disappeared. in the restaurant industry in particular, 70 percent of jobs were lost. other industries, such as retail and even health care, experienced outsized losses as well. 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches two years later, we've seen great progress toward a recovery. the most recent data show that well over two - thirds of new york city's job losses have been reversed. still, areas of the new york city economy, especially those dependent on visitors and office workers, continue to struggle and are lagging the nation in recovery. despite the challenges, there is palpable energy and momentum propelling us into the future. now that our focus is on the recovery, we must create an equitable future for all residents of this city. we must make sure that all of the people who live, work, or own a business here have a chance to succeed. it is essential that we build a stronger foundation so that everyone can fulfill their economic potential, both here in new york and around the nation. that's why it's critical that we prioritize tackling some of the city's biggest problems, including poverty and inequality, and issues in areas such as infrastructure and transportation. these issues are not new ; they existed long before the pandemic. and there is no simple or single solution to solve them. but as we plan for a better future, we must understand how new york's challenges have evolved since march 2020 and how they are playing out in the current environment. with that knowledge and awareness in mind, we can chart the path forward. the new york fed's role this brings me to our conference today. the new york fed is proud to play a role in connecting and convening leading policy influencers, stakeholders, and thinkers from across the city and around the country. our goal in hosting events like these is to be a catalyst for collaboration and creative solutions. the panelists we'll hear from today will help us accomplish just that. they each have a deep understanding of the issues, a familiarity with the communities, and many innovative ideas to share. the topics on the agenda complement the work that many people do in this very building

##herence and predictability will likely remain. there will be no one right answer in managing the trade - offs that come with the changed environment, and adjustment will sometimes be difficult. we will undoubtedly experience further bumps in the road. the renewed volatility we saw last month is evidence enough of that. yet, i think we can remain generally optimistic about the prospects for adjustment so long as market participants continue to appropriately discriminate across countries, rather than treating emes as a single group. furthermore, many emes generally appear to be better equipped today to handle the fed ’ s prospective exit from its exceptional policy accommodation than they were during past tightening cycles. this reflects the fundamental reforms that emes have put in place over the bis central bankers ’ speeches past 15 years, as well as the hard lessons learned from past periods of market stress. among the positives are : • the absence of pegged exchange rate regimes that often came undone violently during periods of acute stress ; • improved debt service ratios and generally moderate external debt levels ; • larger foreign exchange reserve cushions ; • clearer and more coherent monetary policy frameworks, supporting what are now generally low to moderate inflation rates ; • generally improved fiscal discipline ; and • better capitalized banking systems, supported by strengthened regulatory and supervisory frameworks. of course, progress has not been uniform across emes, and more work remains to further strengthen institutional structures in some countries. in particular, vulnerabilities remain in several important emes, and some emes are now being hit by a sharp adverse turn in their terms of trade due to the recent fall in global commodity prices. still, the fundamental improvements i ’ ve cited leave many emes better positioned than in the past to weather those times in the cycle when the external environment becomes more difficult. the impact that changes in fed policy can have beyond our borders has led to calls for us to do more to internalize those impacts, or even further, to internationally coordinate policymaking. as i ’ ve already noted, we are mindful of the global effects of fed policy, given the central place of u. s. markets in the global financial system and the dollar ’ s status as the global reserve currency. accordingly, we seek to conduct policy transparently and based on clear principles. promoting growth and stability in the u. s., i believe, is the most important contribution we can make to growth and stability worldwide. there is, of course, the argument that fed policy has been too acc