john c williams : bridging the skills gap remarks by mr john c williams, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of new york, at the " skilling the gap : building local talent for indemand careers ", columbia - greene community college, hudson, new york, 21 october 2022. * * * as prepared for delivery thank you for that kind introduction. i'm so pleased to be here - especially at this time of year, when the autumn colors light up the region. in fact, my wife and i have fallen in love with this area - so much so, that we are now splitting our time between columbia county and new york city. of course, i'm not just here as your neighbor. part of my job as president of the new york fed - one of the best parts - is to meet with business and community leaders from across the federal reserve's second district. this gives me the opportunity to see and hear the challenges they face. and throughout the second district - which includes new york state, northern new jersey, southwestern connecticut, puerto rico, and the u. s. virgin islands - the issues i hear about consistently have to do with labor shortages and the skills gap. employers can't find enough skilled workers - and workers can't obtain the skills they need to move up the economic ladder. before i go any further, i will give the standard fed disclaimer that the views i express today are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the federal open market committee or others in the federal reserve system. the struggle to fill jobs in the current environment, filling jobs can be a challenge. employers - including those here in columbia and greene counties - are facing significant worker shortages. many are struggling to hire people, especially at the entry level - in construction, nursing, and manufacturing. the skills gap is a big obstacle. in 2020, more than half of available job seekers in columbia and greene counties had a high school diploma or less, and only a quarter had an associate degree or higher. 1 employers, especially those in trucking and the trades, grapple with developing a pipeline of skilled workers. an aging population is another issue. over the past 20 years, the size of the workforce here has declined as the population has stagnated. residents here are older - the median age is late 40s, as opposed to late 30s for all of new york state. in some cases, residents don

many open questions remain on the subject of treasury market liquidity. 2 at the same time, the agenda for this conference makes it clear that there are many other important questions beyond market liquidity worthy of consideration and debate. the breadth and expertise of the attendees at this conference make this forum an excellent opportunity to advance our collective thinking on this range of important subjects. while the recent joint staff report on the events of october 15 certainly revealed that much has changed, it is also important to recognize that both private and official sector efforts to ensure a healthy and efficient treasury market have been ongoing for some time. 3 one obvious example is the treasury market practices group, or the tmpg. set up in february 2007, the what i have to say today represents my own views and not necessarily those of the federal open market committee or the federal reserve system. see regulation and liquidity provision, remarks at the sifma liquidity forum, september 30, 2015. joint staff report : the u. s. treasury market on october 15, 2014. bis central bankers ’ speeches tmpg is a group of market professionals committed to supporting the integrity and efficiency of the treasury market. 4 a core purpose of the tmpg is to develop and update a set of best practices related to trading, settlement and risk management, thereby establishing a set of behavioral norms to which market participants are expected to adhere. most recently, the tmpg updated its best practice guidance to address automated trading, and published a companion white paper on the subject. and no discussion of the tmpg can go without mention of the “ fails charge. ” instituted in may 2009, this practice provides a standard procedure for market participants to assess – or pay – a fee for settlement failures, and this has proven to be a highly effective remedy for curbing the volume of fails in the treasury market. 5 i want to thank the entire tmpg for their leadership in supporting the efficiency and integrity of the treasury market. i ’ d like to single out tom wipf with a personal thank you. tom has served with distinction as the tmpg ’ s chair since its inception, providing credible, balanced and independent leadership to the group. i would be remiss if i did not also mention the ongoing work of the inter - agency working group on treasury market surveillance, or the iawg. after the salomon auction bidding scandal in january 1992, the official sector established the iawg. since that time, it has been a