Powell: Job creation is near zero
Updated Wed, March 18, 2026
Job creation in the US has slowed to essentially zero, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday as the Fed released its latest economic projections, which included slightly higher economic growth than previously projected and little change to the unemployment rate.
Altogether, Powell said, central bankers see "a degree of stability" in the labor market.
"But the thing that I think a good number of people on the committee are concerned about is just the very, very low level of job creation," Powell said in a press conference following the Fed's decision to hold interest rates steady.
"Effectively, there's zero net job creation in the private sector," after accounting for revisions over the past six months, Powell said. "But actually, that looks like that's about what the economy needs, in terms of dealing with very, very low nonexistent, really growth in the labor force, which of course we've never had in our history."
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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/powell-job-creation-is-near-zero-202637723.html