lisa d cook : what will artificial intelligence mean for america's workers? speech by ms lisa d cook, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the ohio state university, columbus, ohio, 26 september 2024. * * * i am grateful for the educational opportunities this university has afforded my family over the years, including my uncle samuel dubois cook who received his m. a. and ph. d. here in 1950 and 1953. i am delighted to be here! today, i would like to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence ( ai ) for workers and the labor market, more generally. 1 i will discuss ai's potential to boost productivity, offer a framework to consider which jobs will be most affected by ai, and consider ai's effect on aggregate employment. i hope this discussion will be informative for many of you in the audience, especially those of you who will be entering the job market in the next few years. however, before discussing ai, i think it will be helpful to first set the stage by reviewing how the labor market has evolved in recent years and where it is today. view of the labor market on the eve of the pandemic, the labor market was quite strong. the unemployment rate was flirting with historical lows, having fallen to 3. 5 percent in the fall of 2019 from an average of 4. 7 percent between 2014 and 2019. jobs were relatively plentiful, with 12 openings for every 10 unemployed job seekers. then, the labor market changed dramatically in the first few months of the pandemic when economies around the world shut down. by april 2020, nearly one out of every seven u. s. workers was unemployed. the u. s. labor market lost more than 20 million jobs in just two months. to put that into perspective, that is nearly four times the total number of jobs in ohio. u. s. workers and employers, with the support of timely and extraordinary policy action, proved to be resilient and innovative. as we know from the national bureau of economic research's business cycle dating committee, the pandemic recession was the shortest on record, even though it was the deepest since the great depression. by mid - 2020, the economy was growing again. and grow it did. the labor market roared back, gaining 25 million jobs in the three years from its low point in april 2020. demand for labor outpaced supply such that by mid2022 there were

ben s bernanke : financial education speech by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the conversation with the chairman : a teacher town hall meeting, federal reserve board, washington dc, 7 august 2012. * * * good afternoon and welcome. i am delighted to have the opportunity to speak today with educators throughout the country on the topic of financial education. thank you for your participation and for the important work you do. as an educator myself, i understand the profound effect that good teachers and a quality education have on the lives of our young people. today i hope you will learn from each other and share ways to best promote learning and, in particular, to help students achieve greater financial literacy. financial education supports not only individual well - being, but also the economic health of our nation. as the recent financial crisis illustrates, consumers who can make informed decisions about financial products and services not only serve their own best interests, but, collectively, they also help promote broader economic stability. smart financial planning – such as budgeting, saving for emergencies, and preparing for retirement – can help households enjoy better lives while weathering financial shocks. financial education can play a key role in getting to these outcomes. research by federal reserve board staff members on the effectiveness of financial education for young military personnel, for instance, found that those who had taken a high school financial education course were more likely to save regularly. 1 effective financial education is not just about teaching students about financial products or performing financial calculations. it also involves teaching them the essential skills and concepts they will need to make major financial choices. high school students might not recall specific information from a lesson about loans a year later when they go to get their first car loan or student loan. however, if they understand and remember some basic ideas – for instance, that it ’ s important to shop around for a loan to get the lowest interest rate, to review the fees charged, and to know how to contact financial counselors and advisers – they will be more likely to make a good decision. a particularly valuable lesson we can teach students is how to apply an economic way of thinking to their decisions. for instance, the topic of student loan debt and whether students are prepared to service that debt upon graduation has received increased attention lately. students with some exposure to economic thinking will be more likely to conceptualize their spending on postsecondary education as an investment in their own human capital and choose their school,