Kocherlakota Says Fed Should Ease Policy More to Spur Hiring

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota said the Fed should do more to spur economic growth and hiring by pledging to hold the main interest rate near zero until unemployment falls to 5.5 percent.

“Monetary policy is currently not accommodative enough,” Kocherlakota said today in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, delivering a text he gave yesterday. “Historical evidence suggests that, as long as the unemployment rate remains above 5.5 percent, the medium-term inflation outlook will stay close to 2 percent.”