BOSTON — Minneapolis Federal Reserve Chairman Narayana Kocherlakota Saturday described the recently released March U.S. jobs figures as "adverse."
"The rate of employment growth was lower than I had expected, the decline in labor-force participation was more rapid than I expected — I viewed it as an adverse jobs report relative to my outlook for the economy," Kocherlakota told reporters after speaking at a Boston Fed symposium.
The U.S. Labor Department reported last week that economy created just 88,000 non-farm jobs in March - far less than economists had expected.
Even before the data came out, Kocherlakota had advocated more Fed action to stimulate the U.S. economy - views he reiterated Saturday.
"I think it'd be desirable to have more accommodation," the central banker told reporters.
Kocherlakota said he's sticking to his forecasts of 2.5% U.S. economic growth in 2013, with 1.6% inflation. He also believes the jobless rate will slowly fall from today's 7.6% to around 7% by late next year.
The central-bank official added that he's encouraged by Thursday's initial jobless claims numbers, which showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly dropping to 346,000.
"Like everyone else, I'm hoping that's the true marker of what's going on in the labor market," Kocherlakota said.
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