from college than men, a development that is likely to help insulate women from job losses in future recessions. one complication is that the future of labor supply is uncertain, and it is difficult to predict how labor force participation will evolve. factors like generational aging were already weighing on labor supply before the pandemic, and we saw millions of workers accelerate retirement during the pandemic, effectively retiring early. even the strong labor market has not yet lured many of these early retirees back, and some believe that as time passes it becomes less likely that they will return. over time, those who chose to leave the workforce early will move into a normal retirement age. we really don ’ t know if gender will be a factor here as this is the first generation to retire that had large numbers of women in the workforce, but workforce aging is an important consideration when it comes to labor supply. we also don ’ t know how the influence of inflation will affect decision making about returning to the workforce, but some may feel compelled to return to work. another consideration is caregiving demands and how those responsibilities will be shared within households. while i hope that we never see a public health emergency like the one we ’ ve just been through, i hope that if we do, we can avoid the governmental - 9decisions to intentionally disrupt foundational education and the unnecessary forced isolation of children. these policies have left a significant impact on this generation of children, on families and their decision making about many things including participation in the labor force. one ongoing labor supply issue relates to the lingering effects of covid that can interfere with the ability to work or impose additional caregiving needs for family members. by one account, nearly a fifth of adults who contracted covid reported ongoing symptoms of “ long covid, ” affecting significantly more women than men. at the same time, the number of working - age people with disabilities has increased significantly. while the number of americans reporting a disability had been rising gradually over the past decade, the increase picked up in mid - 2020, and about 2 million more people reported they had a disability in july 2022 than at the outset of the pandemic. 16 disability has been a major drag on the work force in rural areas in the past. living in rural kansas following the last recession, as i mentioned earlier, i am very familiar with the challenges that disability presents for many aspects of the community — beyond just economic conditions. disability is also a significant challenge in

lael brainard : regional food systems and community development speech by ms lael brainard, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at a federal reserve bank of boston regional food systems meeting, boston, massachusetts, 15 november 2017. * * * thank you for inviting me. i appreciate the opportunity to listen and learn about the important work that you do. 1 one of the federal reserve ’ s responsibilities is to understand how communities across america are experiencing the economy. that is why congress established a network of federal reserve banks and branches across the country. our local presence gives us valuable opportunities to engage with communities across a broad spectrum — from those who are thriving to those who are confronting challenges, and from inner - city neighborhoods to rural towns. one of the lessons that our community engagement has taught us is that there is an important connection between the strength of regional food systems and community health. today ’ s meeting is one in a series that federal reserve banks are holding across the country to talk about local efforts to support regional food systems, and how such efforts can advance communities ’ goals. these meetings build on the federal reserve board ’ s release last august of harvesting opportunity, a publication that explores the community and economic development potential of investing in regional food systems. 2 through this collaborative research effort, we learned several important lessons about what works to strengthen regional food systems. first, we learned that appropriately tailored investments in regional food systems have the potential to support the creation of new jobs and small businesses in local communities, as well as to improve farm profitability and financial resilience. second, we learned that in order to take advantage of new business opportunities in the regional food sector, entrepreneurs need access to capital, specialized knowledge, and general business skills. unfortunately, one or more of these is often missing from historically marginalized communities. we also learned that organizations across the country are filling these gaps and empowering communities to take advantage of opportunities. i understand that many of you in this room are engaged in this important work ; for that i thank you and hope that this meeting will help advance your efforts. as a result of an intentional focus on equity and inclusiveness, these investments can create new access to economic opportunity for segments of communities that have often faced challenges, such as people of color, recent immigrants, the formerly homeless, and the previously incarcerated. lastly, we learned that no organization has all of the resources or expertise necessary to effectively carry out this work alone. as such, long -