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The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic is falling on poorer Americans, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday.
“We are in the midst of an economic downturn without modern precedent,” Powell said, in remarks at the start of a central bank forum for voices outside of Wall Street called “Fed Listens.”
The economic downturn was sudden and severe, erasing all the job gains of the past decade.
“And while the burden is widespread, it has not been evenly spread,” Powell said.
“Those taking the brunt of the fallout are those least able to bear it.”
The Fed chairman said earlier this month that the path ahead for the economy is highly uncertain and risky.
The key to the rebound will be public confidence that it is again safe to undertake various activities.
Powell said he wanted to hear from participants on how their communities are coping and how they are thinking about the future.
He said this feedback was crucial for conducting interest rate policy.
The central bank will hear from a round table including Pat Dujakovich, the president of the AFL-CIO of Kansas City, Juan Salgado, the chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago, and Aaron Gornstein, the president of the Preservation of Affordable Housing.
U.S. equity benchmarks were uniformly lower on Thursday. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.67% was down 15.59 points to 2,956 in midafternoon trading.
See: Here’s a breakdown of Fed actions to support economy to date
