discrete mechanisms that could be beneficial in containing the too - big - to - fail problem. this exercise would, at a minimum, require development of valid and administrable standards for judging when systemic risk or too - big - to - fail problems would be materially increased, as well as a more complete understanding of what efficiencies attach to very large or complex financial institutions, and thus what social benefits might be lost by limiting or reducing their size. thus considerable work would need to be done before evaluating the promise of these ideas. but, as i have said before, further elaboration of these ideas could be very useful in advancing our understanding of the dimensions of the too - big - to - fail problem. conclusion in closing, let me reiterate the importance both of moving ahead with the administrative and legislative reform agenda that i described earlier and of continuing investigations of complementary or alternative regulatory approaches. these inquiries into possible alternatives should not be used as an excuse to delay consideration of current legislative proposals. but the justifiable focus of policymakers on achieving these administrative and legislative changes should not crowd out open - minded consideration of additional measures.

economy moves from reopening to recovery, ” speech delivered at “ rebuilding the post - pandemic economy, ” 2021 annual meeting of the aspen economic strategy group, aspen, colo., july 30, https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / newsevents / speech / brainard20210730a. htm. - 4gap to pre - covid levels and the prime - age epop ratio has closed around 40 percent of the gap to pre - covid conditions. 8 in contrast, the labor force participation rate of 61. 7 percent in august has shown little progress so far. some observers argue that labor force participation has moved permanently lower, and the labor market is already tight, such that we should not expect a return to pre - covid employment conditions. but the decline in labor force participation appears to reflect covid - related constraints that have been prolonged by delta rather than permanent structural changes in the economy. for instance, the number of respondents to the census household pulse survey indicating they were not working due to either being sick with covid or caring for someone sick with covid more than doubled between late july and early september, returning to levels seen early this year. 9 while i am hopeful for improvements in the september employment report with the return to in - person education, the effects of delta have likely prolonged caregiving constraints. for example, last week there were just over 2, 000 school closures for covid across nearly 470 school districts in 39 states. 10 while the disruptions last just under six days on average, the possibility of further unpredictable disruptions could cause the gap of payroll employment to pre - covid trends is the gap between the current level of payroll employment and the level that would have occurred had total nonfarm payrolls grown at a constant rate of 168, 000 per month ( the average growth rate in 2019 ) beginning in march 2020. the references in this paragraph to percentages of gaps closed describe the fraction that remains in the current data of the difference between pre - covid conditions and the conditions that existed in december 2020. for example, the unemployment rate was 3. 5 percent in february 2020 and 6. 7 percent in december 2020, a gap of 3. 2 percentage points. in august, the unemployment rate was 5. 2 percent, implying a gap to pre - covid conditions in this metric of 1. 7 percentage points, meaning that a little under 50 percent of the 3.