“I think the one thing we really cannot do is to fail to restore price stability,” Powell told Kai Ryssdal.

The U.S. had 2 million fewer working-age immigrants at the end of 2021 than it would have had if pre-pandemic trends continued.

We’ve now regained more jobs than we lost early in the pandemic in some sectors.

Health care, child care and K-12 education, which offer jobs with lower pay that need to be done in person, have yet to fully recover.

On average, wages aren’t rising as fast as inflation. But not all workers are getting average raises.

Wages are rising fast, but not as fast as prices. When inflation expectations drive workers’ demands for higher pay, inflation can spiral out of control.

We spoke with Alex Camardelle, director of Workforce Policy at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, for an answer.

Two years ago, more than 4 million people filed for benefits in a single week. This year, the number’s around 180,000.

At the current rate of job creation, the economy will return to pre-pandemic employment levels this year.

One factor that may have contributed to this growth? Jobs in accounting, IT, consulting and similar roles can still be done remotely.