agriculture advisory council and upstate advisory board, we have constructed a consumer credit panel that allows us to better understand the financial condition of homeowners and students, we have developed a “ regional mortgage conditions ” dataset and other housing tools at the county and zip code level to ensure that policymakers and counselors are well informed, and we conduct a biannual poll of small businesses to understand their credit needs and availability. interestingly, our most recent poll, released in may of this year, shows improvements in small businesses ’ ability to get credit throughout the region, though it remains a major growth challenge for these types of firms. as you can see, we have a lot to keep us engaged with the region. much of this information can be found on our website, which i would invite you to visit and use as a resource. now, i ’ d like to review recent developments in the local and national economies, and at the end of my talk will be happy to answer any questions you have. as always, what i have to say reflects my own views and not necessarily those of the federal reserve system or the federal open market committee. bis central bankers ’ speeches regional economic conditions starting with the area ’ s economy, one of the greatest challenges in the city over the past year has been the massive disruption and destruction caused by superstorm sandy. while areas of the new york city metropolitan region were hard hit by the storm, the devastation was particularly severe along the waterfronts of queens – and in particular in far rockaway. we saw and heard about the devastation of the storm first - hand from many of those affected, through a series of support clinics that we held in the storm ’ s immediate aftermath, as well as from many of our own employees who lived in some of the hardest hit areas. the good news is that a little more than one - year later there has been a significant rebound in employment and economic activity across the five boroughs. new york city has continued to see pretty solid job creation through this past summer, and, in stark contrast with past economic expansions, this is happening without any direct contribution from the securities industry – or, more colloquially, wall street. so far this year, the city ’ s job gains have been broad - based, led by strong growth in industries such as education and health, advertising, computer services, leisure and hospitality, wholesale and retail trade, and, especially, construction. of course, while it is reassuring that most of the city has bounced

conversations reflects the unique aspects of the north country economy, which suffered outsize job losses at the onset of the pandemic and continues to experience a reduction in tourism owing to border closures. this area, like many across the second district and around the country, has its challenges. but i expect a strong recovery will take hold here, supported by the improvement in the broader u. s. economy. the fed ’ s policy response this brings me to the fed ’ s policy response. in its december 2020 statement, the fomc said it would continue asset purchases at the current pace until it sees substantial further progress toward our maximum employment and price stability goals. 1 given what i explained earlier, i think it ’ s clear that we have made substantial further progress on achieving our inflation goal. there has also been very good progress toward maximum employment, but i will want to see more improvement before i am ready to declare the test of substantial further progress being met. assuming the economy continues to improve as i anticipate, it could be appropriate to start reducing the pace of asset purchases this year. i will be carefully assessing the incoming data on the labor market and what it means for the economic outlook, as well as assessing risks such as the effects of the delta variant. 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches it is important to remember that even after the asset purchases end, the stance of monetary policy will continue to support a strong and full economic recovery and sustained attainment of 2 percent average inflation. in particular, the fomc has indicated that it will continue to hold the target range for the federal funds rate at its current level until the economy reaches conditions consistent with its assessments of maximum employment, and inflation has reached 2 percent and is on track to moderately exceed 2 percent for some time. there is still a long way to go before reaching maximum employment, and over time it should become clearer whether we have reached 2 percent inflation on a sustainable basis. conclusion to close, i ’ ll say that it ’ s clear that the pandemic is far from over, both in terms of its effects on health and its effects on the economy. the unusual nature of this crisis means that this recovery is far different than anything we have seen before. but with time, i am confident that the economy will continue to move ever upward. thank you, and i look forward to your questions. 1 board of governors of the federal reserve system, federal reserve issues fomc statement, december 16, 2020