, federal deposit insurance corporation, office of the comptroller of the currency, and office of thrift supervision ( 2008 ), “ interagency statement on meeting the needs of creditworthy borrowers, ” joint press release, november 12, www. federalreserve. gov / newsevents / press / bcreg / 20081112a. htm. minority borrowers ). others will employ a standard agenda in different parts of the country to ascertain regional differences in small business access to credit and support services. finally, in your invitation letter you asked that we discuss actions taken by the administration to assist small business owners. as you know, the administration has undertaken a number of actions aimed at improving small businesses ’ access to credit. since the signing of the american reinvestment and recovery act in february 2009, sba 7 ( a ) and 504 loan volumes have increased quite substantially relative to the period immediately preceding the bill ’ s passage. most recently, the administration announced a small business lending initiative to provide low - cost capital to community banks that submit a plan to increase their small business lending and to community development financial institutions that serve the hardest - hit communities. a number of these small business lending initiatives are new, and their effects on small business lending cannot yet be measured. nonetheless, a number of programs have been established to assist small businesses and the regulatory agencies recently issued guidance that strongly encourages banks to meet the needs of creditworthy borrowers. we will closely monitor credit conditions to consider whether additional measures may be needed to ensure that the funding needs of qualified small businesses are met in the coming months. conclusion while financial market conditions have improved in the united states, the overall lending environment remains strained, and significant concerns have been raised about the availability of credit to small businesses. the federal reserve, in collaboration with the other banking agencies, has worked to ensure that the banking system remains safe and sound and is able to meet the credit needs of our economy. we also have aggressively pursued monetary policy actions and have provided liquidity to help restore stability to the financial system and support the flow of credit to households and businesses. it will take time for the banking industry to fully recover and to serve as a source of strength for the real economy. the federal reserve is committed to working with the other banking agencies and the congress to promote the concurrent goals of fostering credit availability for creditworthy borrowers and ensuring a safe and sound banking system. thank you again for your invitation to

janet l yellen : the bureau of labor statistics – a trusted us agency ( brief remarks ) speech by ms janet l yellen, chair of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the induction of carroll d. wright and janet l. norwood into the department of labor ’ s hall of honor, us department of labor, washington dc, 20 october 2015. * * * we are here to honor two exceptional public servants and the great institution they helped build. let ’ s consider for a moment why the bureau of labor statistics ( bls ) has succeeded and how carroll wright and janet norwood contributed to that success. in 1884, a time of great strife and mistrust between management and labor, the federal government created an agency with the mission of providing detailed and objective information on american workers. that task fell to carroll wright, who had won the confidence of workers and management as chief of the massachusetts bureau of labor statistics in the years after that state became the first to legalize labor unions. at that point, before the united states itself had recognized such rights and before the federal government could agree on labor standards, the public needed an unimpeachable assessment of the conditions faced by workers. under carroll wright, what was then called the bureau of labor investigated major labor disputes and issued reports that shaped public opinion and were the basis for executive action and legislation. he initiated the collection of data on hours, wages, and prices and was responsible for many important advances that successively improved the reliability of these data. the respect for the thoroughness and objectivity of the research that wright oversaw led to the dismantling of damaging trade barriers in the 1890s and later raised public awareness about the deplorable conditions faced by women in the workplace. in the u. s. constitution, there is not a requirement that government statistics be accurate and free of political influence or bias. carroll wright recognized that this simple, powerful idea could help build public confidence for the government ’ s effort to reduce conflicts between management and workers and move our nation forward. he and others are responsible for a fundamental feature of our democracy that is now often taken for granted – the public ’ s expectation and insistence that information provided by the government can be trusted. to carroll wright ’ s descendants, one of whom is with us today, thank you, on his behalf, for this valuable contribution. this legacy lives on in the agency carroll wright founded, and few of his successors did as much to advance this principle as janet