Fed’s Lockhart Says Slow Hiring May Be at Root of Unemployment

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said high U.S. unemployment may stem more from a slowdown in hiring than from an effort by employers to reduce payrolls.

“Persistent unemployment may be more attributable to a slowdown in the hiring rate than a rise in job destruction and job loss,” Lockhart said today in Atlanta, citing a research paper. “A hiring slowdown can be viewed as consistent with a structural problem, a mismatch problem.”