Former Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen speaks during a press conference following a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on September 20, 2017 in Washington, DC.
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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday that despite last month’s strong job gains, Congress has yet to “grow up” approving President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion aid package of dollars, to get millions of people back to work sooner.
In an interview with PBS NewsHour on Friday, Yellen said the Biden package should not be cut just because the February job report showed 379,000 new jobs had been created, the best publication since October .
At this rate, the country would still take more than two years to return to full employment, he said. But with the administration package, he said the country could return to full employment next year.
“It’s a great package, but I think we have to make it big now and we can afford to do it,” Yellen said. “The most important thing is to get our economy back on track and help people get their lives back on track to make sure this pandemic doesn’t permanently scare our workforce.”
Yellen said the unemployment rate, which fell to 6.2% in February, was exaggerating the improvement in the labor force because it does not count the 4 million people who have stopped looking for work and left the labor market . He said the real unemployment rate is 10%.
Following House approval last week, the Senate is debating the $ 1.9 trillion relief package with supporters trying to keep Democrats in the House 50-50 as it is not expected to no Republican votes the measure.
Asked about the turmoil in U.S. financial markets over the past two weeks as interest rates have begun to rise, Yellen said she does not see development as a sign of investors starting to worry that inflation escapes his hands. He said the rate hike is a sign that the outlook for the economy is starting to improve as more people are vaccinated and Biden’s fiscal package is making its way into Congress.
The Federal Reserve “does have the tools to deal with inflation if it becomes a problem, but I don’t see the markets … worried about it,” Yellen said.
Yellen also said Biden remains firmly committed to raising the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour. The administration will look for other legislation later this year where the proposal could be included, after the Senate MP ruled that it could not be part of the assistance bill, he said.
The administration is working on a “Rebuild Better” measure to increase spending on infrastructure that will also be used to address racial inequality issues by increasing support for job training and education, he said. The administration also wants to address other issues, such as paid leave and childcare, he said.
National debt, which has risen to levels not seen since the end of World War II in terms of its relationship to the total economy, is not a threat at the moment, as interest rates, all and that they have increased, still historically low levels, he said.
“The spending we’re making now certainly helps our way out of debt, getting our economy back on track,” Yellen said.