the effects they will have going forward. as an economist looking at these issues on a microlevel, i appreciate the expertise on display at this conference. from my new perch as a fed governor taking the macro view, the research presented gives more context to the wider economic playing field. from either perspective, the technology - enabled responses and the changes brought about by the pandemic itself are important issues for policymakers to understand. they affect how we look at the economy overall. as i look ahead, i am considering how those changes affect the outlook, and i would like to speak a bit about how i see the economy evolving as we move forward. outlook 2 / 4 bis - the labor market remains strong, as can be seen across a variety of measures, from the low unemployment rate to the high quits rate, which illustrates the confidence of workers who are willing to leave their jobs in pursuit of better ones. labor force participation remains lower than it was prior to the pandemic, reflecting several factors, including people who left the workforce for early retirement and some remaining parents and other caregivers who stayed home through the pandemic. these are not factors that reverse on a dime. with still - strong labor demand and sluggish labor supply, the job market remains very tight. workers are moving between jobs more rapidly than in the past, putting upward pressure on wages. in a market with more job openings than workers, the competition to fill vacancies is leading to rapid wage gains now, and the resulting salary compression may lead to further upward wage pressures in the future. as growth has slowed this year, supplya€ “ demand conditions in the labor market - and the overall economy - seem likely to ease some. we have already seen some indications from survey data, information from transportation hubs, and producer prices that supply bottlenecks have, at long last, begun to resolve. nonetheless, inflation remains elevated, and this is the problem that concerns me most. inflation creates economic burdens for households and businesses, and everyone feels its effects. it can also change people's expectations about how long lasting price rises will be. those inflation expectations can become entrenched and, in doing so, increase the likelihood that high inflation will persist. while oil and gasoline prices have come down in recent months, i am concerned that fluctuations in prices of the goods to which people pay the most attention, like food and housing, will affect expectations of future inflation. thankfully, longer -

philip n jefferson : technology's impact on the post - pandemic economy speech by mr philip n jefferson, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the conference " technology - enabled disruption : lessons from the pandemic and the path ahead ", organised by the federal reserve banks of atlanta, dallas and richmond, in atlanta, georgia, 4 october 2022. * * * good morning, and thank you. it is a pleasure to be here today. i am happy to be giving my first speech as a member of the board of governors at the federal reserve bank of atlanta. i would like to thank the atlanta, dallas, and richmond feds for inviting me today and for bringing together this collection of expertise and research. today i would like to continue the discussion you have been having about tech - enabled responses to the pandemic. then i would like to delve a bit further into what those pandemic - related disruptions have meant for economic activity at the microlevel and how the changes of the past few years affect how i view the outlook for the macroeconomy. this may be my first speech as a fed governor, but i am well aware of one practice associated with these occasions. that practice requires me to say that i am speaking for myself alone. my views do not necessarily reflect those of anyone else at the board of governors or in the federal reserve system. technology - enabled solutions to pandemic disruptions turning to the subject of this conference, there is no question that technology helped households and businesses to adapt and adjust in many ways to the disruption brought about by the pandemic. those adaptations - from enabling people to keep working to helping businesses stay open - undoubtedly prevented worse outcomes. they also likely changed the economic landscape for good and, in many cases, for the better - from hybrid working and how businesses approach distribution, investment, and inventories to the way consumers shop and pay for goods and services. those changes are evident across broad categories, each of which this conference has discussed in some detail. supply chain and business investment underwent, and are still experiencing, significant change. large increases in computers and peripherals investment enabled remote work and helped to automate processes at physical establishments while simultaneously minimizing in - person contact. likewise, the labor market showed great adaptability in the rapidity and relative ease that many sectors showed in shifting to remote working. of course, that did not translate to all areas of employment