Fed's Kocherlakota: Policy Aim Should Be Three More Strong Years Of Labor Gains Like 2014

The Federal Reserve should strive to replicate for the next three years the labor market gains seen in 2014, said Narayana Kocherlakota, the president of the Minneapolis Fed on Thursday. In a speech in Helena, Mont., Kocherlakota said such improvement would bring labor market conditions back to their pre-Great Recession levels. "It follows that monetary policy makers should be extraordinarily patient about reducing the level of monetary accommodation," Kocherlakota said. The Minneapolis Fed president is one of the leading doves on the U.S. central bank. He does not have a vote on the Fed's policy committee this year. Kocherlakota said that the labor market continues to improve in 2015 but at a slightly slower rate than last year. "There is no reason to think of the Great Recession as leading to some kind of 'new normal' with weak labor market outcomes," he said.