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By Martin Crutsinger<\/div><\/div>\n

The chair says the U.S. economy has been permanently changed by the pandemic, and the central bank must understand and adapt to those changes before making decisions.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2013 Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the U.S. economy has been permanently changed by the COVID pandemic, and it is important that the central bank adapt to those changes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not simply going back to the economy that we had before the pandemic,\u201d Powell said at a Fed virtual town hall for educators and students. \u201cWe need to watch carefully as the economy continues to get through the pandemic and try to understand the ways that the economy has changed and what the implications are for our policy.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Powell said that, while it is not yet clear if the delta variant of COVID will have further impact on the economy, the country has already seen significant changes since the pandemic began shutting the country down in March 2020.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Those changes range from the increase in remote work, to restaurants offering more take-out meals, to real estate agents learning to show homes virtually, he noted. Many companies have already made large investments in technology to adapt to the challenges that the pandemic has presented.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems a near certainty that there will be substantially more remote work going forward,\u201d Powell said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to change the nature of work and the way work gets done.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Powell said the heavy investment by companies in new technology means there will be more jobs in the future associated with maintaining that technology but also potential job losses in industries focused on in-person contact. He said some of those industries may be moving to an \u201cautomated, no-contact model.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This trend is already showing up in the jobs data, with the recovery slower in industries that rely on public interaction, such as travel, leisure and hospitality. Those are jobs disproportionately held by women and people of color and typically pay lower wages, Powell noted.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt may be that some of these people will have a harder time finding their way back into the workforce without more education and training,\u201d he said. He said there are millions of people who have lost service sector jobs and remain out of work and need to be supported. \u201cThat’s a part of the recovery that\u2019s far from complete.\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking to the audience of students and educators, Powell said the pandemic could turn out to be an historical inflection point that will allow the current generation of students to turn the lessons learned into \u201cprofound tools of change.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Students who have lived through the pandemic will see the world differently, he said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have seen a world upended, but you have also seen a world that is rapidly changing \u2014 sometimes more in one week than some of us have experienced over the course of decades,” he said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an extraordinary time and I believe that it will result in an extraordinary generation,\u201d Powell said.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the town hall is an event started by Ben Bernanke, one of Powell\u2019s predecessors as Fed chairman, and continued by former Fed Chair and now Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. It seeks to highlight the importance of classes in economics.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press, Martin Crutsinger, AP economics writer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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\nAuthor: kerrys<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"