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The Outlook for Housing: Federal Reserve Governor Michelle W. Bowman at the 2020 Economic Forecast Breakfast
"Before I conclude, I'd like to address two challenges currently facing the housing sector. The first relates to the difficulties that some employers face, including homebuilders, in finding and retaining qualified and skilled workers. To provide some context, the national data show that the unemployment rate in the private construction industry is now well below the rate we observed in the early 2000s, a time when the housing market was booming. In addition, the ratio of job vacancies to unemployment in the construction industry — a measure of labor market strength — shot up to historic highs at the end of 2018, and it has remained near those levels." more »
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell: Building on the Gains from the Long Expansion: Spreading the Benefits of Employment
First, as this expansion continues into its 11th year — the longest in U.S. history — economic conditions are generally good. Second, the benefits of the long expansion are only now reaching many communities, and there is plenty of room to build on the impressive gains achieved so far. Fortunately, the outlook for further progress is good: Forecasters are generally predicting continued growth, a strong job market, and inflation near 2 percent. I will begin by discussing the Fed's policy actions over the past year to support the favorable outlook. Then I will turn to two important opportunities for further gains from this expansion: maintaining a stable and reliable pace of 2 percent inflation and spreading the benefits of employment more widely. more »
Elaine Soloway's Hometown Rookie: Synchronized Flopping, Guest Towels And Friends - Floors, Doors or Blocks Away
Elaine Soloway Writes: While I will describe my attempts, along with my loved ones' antics and my lifelong efforts to become a calm and confident swimmer, perhaps you'll agree that Synchronized Flopping can be a metaphor for Parenting: sometimes we accomplish it perfectly; i.e. Esther Williams upside down in the water, and resurfacing with her makeup and smile intact. Other times, we are out-of-our-depth, looking foolish, and gasping for air. This year, for my event that I tagged "birthday/housewarming/pool party," I was sans spouse in my 672-foot apartment. Plans were in place: my daughters would be footing the bill, my friend Jani would serve as my P.A. (Hollywood talk for Personal Assistant), but the details — like the guest towels — were on my mushrooming to-do list. more »
New Mexico: A Sense That You Have Landed Not in Another State But in Another Country
Sonya Zalubowski writes: The first thing that hits you after landing in New Mexico is the vastness of the blue sky, a panorama that surrounds you amid the state’s rough high desert and mountainous landscape. Perhaps that sky with all its limitlessness, including the unrealized possibility of finding more of the gold they found in Mexico, is what first attracted the Spanish to settle this area. Their influence dating all the way to the 16th century plus the large indigenous native American presence color the area’s flavor to this day. more »