Compared to the rest of the nation, Queens has been more resilient during the recession that began in the fall of 2008 seeing jobs fall 3 percent, with 7 percent nationally and 4.5 percent throughout the city, said the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s President and Chief Executive Officer William C. Dudley during his address to local elected officials, the Queens Chamber of Commerce and Queens Economic Development Corporation.
While joblessness nationally remains “unacceptably high,” Dudley believes that the economic outlook is brightening, citing the improvements in household and financial institution balance sheets, the maintaining of low level short-term interest rates and large scale asset purchases at the Fed and growth among emerging market economies, which has led to an increase in homemade goods and services. Though signs may indicate a coming upswing, Dudley urged the hundreds in attendance at the LaGuardia Sheraton on March 11 to be cautious.
“We must not be overly optimistic about the growth outlook,” said Dudley, a former partner and managing director at Goldman, Sachs & Company and the 10th president of the New York Fed. “The coast is not completely clear – the healing process in the aftermath of the crisis takes time and there are still several areas of vulnerability and weakness.” He continued to cite weak housing activity, state and local government finances in peril and shocks from abroad like higher oil prices as problems to watch.
Another area of the economy that Dudley seemed very pleased with was the “well-anchored” inflation expectations.
“Recent evidence shows that the large amount of slack in the economy has contributed to declining inflation over the past couple of years. I expect this slack to continue to dampen price pressures in the near term . . . we intend to keep it that way,” said Dudley.
Tom Bosco, general manager at LaGuardia Airport, questioned Dudley about the recent spike in food and gas prices prompting a response that made the room begin to stir.
“Today you can buy an iPad 2 that costs the same as an iPad 1. That’s twice as powerful," said Dudley.
While his point may have been intended to be taken with a grain of salt, Bosco questioned when the last time he went grocery shopping.
Still, Dudley remains confident about the future economy.
“Many indicators suggest that conditions are in place for stronger growth in the coming months,” said Dudley.
