Fed Mandates Clash as Jobless Drop Vies With Inflation: Economy

Just when Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and her colleagues will be approaching a decision to raise interest rates, their two mandates will probably be pulling them in different directions.

By June 2015, the jobless rate will be very close to the 5.2 percent to 5.5 percent that policy makers consider full employment, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg this month. In contrast, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge will not have budged from its current 1.4 percent.