Fed's Williams Backs More Rate Cuts Due to Labor Slowdown Risk

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams supports more interest rate cuts this year in view of the risk of a further slowdown in the labor market, he said in an interview published by The New York Times on Thursday.

"My own view is that yes, we would have lower rates this year, but we'll have to see exactly what that means," Williams told the newspaper.

"The risk that inflation got well above 2% and we didn't bring it back down would be very damaging to the economy and to our credibility. But we need to do it in a way that does our best to minimize the risk of the labor market cooling more sharply," he told the newspaper.

Williams serves as the vice chair and a permanent voting member of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.

The Fed cut its rate by a quarter percentage point at its September meeting, a move Fed Chair Jerome Powell and others characterized as a way to leave policy tight enough to still restrain the economy and put downward pressure on inflation, while also providing a looser outlook that could help ensure against rapid weakening of the job market.