Fed Chair Powell: Labor market is in a 'curious kind of balance'

The unemployment rate, while edging up in July, stands at a historically low level of 4.2% and has been broadly stable over the past year. Other indicators of labor market conditions are also little changed or have softened only modestly, including quits, layoffs, the ratio of vacancies to unemployment, and nominal wage growth. Labor supply has softened in line with demand, sharply lowering the break even rate of job creation needed to hold the unemployment rate constant.Indeed, labor force growth has slowe ...