Europe’s Central Bank Can’t Match the Fed’s Jobs-for-All Push
Spotty data and a more limited mandate are obstacles to any attempt to use monetary policy to lift minorities.
Data in Europe often doesn’t capture the diversity of its workforce. Pictured here is a cross section of employees in France.
Photographer: Raymond Roig,Loic Venance,Francois Lo Presti,Jean-Christophe Verhaegen,Franck Fife,Fred Tanneau,Valery Hache,Nicolas Tucat,Sebastien Bozon,Philippe Lopez,Lionel Bonaventure,Pascal Guyot,Frederick Florin,Richard Bouhet,Jeff Pachoud,Mehdi Fedouach/AFP Via Getty Images
When the European Central Bank unveils the results of its grand strategy review this year, there will be at least one stark contrast with the U.S. Federal Reserve’s own exercise. Inequality in the labor market, a hot-button topic of the 2020s and a core part of the Fed’s conclusions, looks likely to get much more subdued treatment in Frankfurt.
That’s partly because the ECB lacks the Fed’s dual mandate for price stability and full employment. But it’s also because policymakers in Europe don’t have access to data to give them a full picture of inequality in the region, including whether racial and ethnic minorities are benefiting equally from monetary and fiscal stimulus.