Federal Reserve's governor Michelle W. Bowman noted on Monday the Fed's policymakers still see a very strong labor market and not as much moderation in inflation as they would like, despite the FOMC's past policy actions.
According to her, ongoing tightness in the labor market puts upward pressure on inflation. "The longer high inflation persists, the more likely it is that households and businesses may come to expect higher inflation in the longer term," Bowman added. "Should that be the case, the FOMC's job of lowering inflation would be even more challenging."
Also, the official said that she expects ongoing increases will be appropriate to bring the Fed's rates to a sufficiently restrictive level and to remain them there for some time to restore price stability, but noted that there is a lot of data between now and the next FOMC meeting. "I will continue to look for consistent evidence that inflation remains on a downward path when considering further rate increases," Bowman said.