jerome h powell : welcoming remarks – “ a virtual teacher and student town hall meeting ” welcoming remarks ( via webcast ) by mr jerome h powell, chair of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at conversation with the chair : a virtual teacher and student town hall meeting, washington dc, 17 august 2021. * * * thank you, gigi and scott, and thanks to everyone for your work in bringing us together today, particularly the economic education group. congratulations on the launch of economic education month as well. we ’ re very proud of this initiative and looking forward to what you have in store for us in october. it ’ s a pleasure to be here, albeit in a very different format than we ’ re used to. the downside is that we don ’ t get to connect in quite the same way as we do in person. the upside is that we ’ re able to include a lot more people. and wear much more comfortable clothes. before i turn to your questions, i want to say a few words to recognize the incredibly powerful work you all do as teachers. it would be important to mention this in any year, but especially now, in the 17th month of our upended reality. at the fed, we take the value and responsibility of public service pretty seriously, and there really is no greater contribution to the common good than teaching. the pandemic has been tough on everyone, but it has asked more of some than others. making it through this time has been no small feat for anyone, but teachers deserve distinct praise and appreciation. educators have had to restructure their teaching, adapt to new platforms, and help their students make their way through added stresses and pitfalls. that must have been especially tough without the day - to - day interactions that help you connect. it is clear that so many teachers have gone above and beyond the call of duty to remain a consistent, reliable resource for their students. parents deserve a shout - out as well for their part in helping reconstruct something as enormous and consequential as our entire education system. and students have also shown remarkable courage and resilience. for all of us, daily life has been disrupted, milestones like birthdays and graduations have been missed, and a once - in - alifetime crisis has cast a shadow of insecurity and uncertainty. but to take on that burden as a formative experience is extraordinary. you should all feel proud. finding the bright

year, as firms replaced aging equipment and as the demand for their products and services expanded. in contrast, in the housing sector, the overhang of vacant and foreclosed homes continues to weigh heavily on both home prices and residential construction. overall, however, improving household and business confidence, accommodative monetary policy, and more - supportive financial conditions, including an apparent increase in the willingness of banks to make loans, seems likely to lead to a more rapid pace of economic recovery in 2011 than we saw last year. while indicators of spending and production have, on balance, been encouraging, the job market has improved only slowly. following the loss of about 8 – 1 / 2 million jobs in 2008 and 2009, private - sector employment showed gains in 2010. however, these gains were barely sufficient to accommodate the inflow of recent graduates and other new entrants to the labor force and, therefore, not enough to significantly reduce the overall unemployment rate. recent data do provide some grounds for optimism on the employment front ; for example, initial claims for unemployment insurance have generally been trending down, and indicators of job openings and firms ’ hiring plans have improved. even so, with output growth likely to bis central bankers ’ speeches be moderate for awhile and with employers reportedly still reluctant to add to their payrolls, it will be several years before the unemployment rate has returned to a more normal level. until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation, we cannot consider the recovery to be truly established. on the inflation front, we have recently seen significant increases in some highly visible prices, notably for gasoline. indeed, prices of many commodities have risen lately, largely as a result of the very strong demand from fast - growing emerging market economies, coupled, in some cases, with constraints on supply. nevertheless, overall inflation remains quite low : over the 12 months ending in december, prices for all the goods and services purchased by households increased by only 1. 2 percent, down from 2. 4 percent over the prior 12 months. 1 to assess underlying trends in inflation, economists also follow several alternative measures of inflation ; one such measure is so - called core inflation, which excludes the more volatile food and energy components and therefore can be a better predictor of where overall inflation is headed. core inflation was only 0. 7 percent in 2010, compared with around 2 – 1 / 2 percent in 2007, the year before the recession began. wage growth has slowed as well, with average hourly earnings