Powell: "Tariff-driven inflation likely to be transitory... Job growth rate close to zero"

Jerome Powell, chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), said that upward price pressure from tariffs is likely to be temporary. He also said that, excluding duplicate counts in the labor statistics, job growth is effectively stalled.

On the 29th (local time), according to economic breaking-news channel Walter Bloomberg, Powell said at a press conference, "Tariff measures could raise inflation by about 0.2~0.4 percentage points," adding, "however, this is likely to be a one-off factor."

He went on, "If you remove duplicate counts in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, recent job growth is almost zero," and "there are clear signs of a slowdown in the labor market."

Powell previously said, "Inflation excluding tariff effects does not deviate significantly from the 2% target." His remarks were interpreted as reaffirming that inflation risks are limited amid growing expectations for monetary easing.