Posted on September 20, 2024

Jerome Powell: Migration Is Raising Americans’ Unemployment Rate

Neil Munro, Breitbart, September 19, 2024

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says the nation’s unemployment rate is being raised by Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas’s huge inflow of migrants.

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On Wednesday, Powell explained his decision to reduce interest rates, and he was asked by a reporter if some Americans would need to lose their jobs to help reduce wage gains that contribute to inflation. Powell responded:

On the job creation, it depends on the inflows, right? So if you’re having millions of [migrant] people come into the labor force, and you’re creating [only] 100,000 jobs [per month], you’re going to see unemployment go up. So it really depends on what’s the trend underlying the volatility of people coming into the country.

The  current inflow is raising unemployment, he added:  “We understand there’s been quite an influx across the borders, and that has actually been one of the things that’s allowed the unemployment rate to rise.”

Powell welcomed the rising unemployment rate because it helps reduce wage raises and so reduces inflation.

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