Federal Reserve's semi-annual monetary policy report: inflation slowing, job market tight but not overheating

U.S. inflation is easing and the job market has returned to the "tight but not overheated" situation it had before the U.S. economy was thrown into disarray due to the pandemic, the Federal Reserve said in its semi-annual monetary policy report on July 5. In the key area of housing services, it may only be a matter of time before the pace of price increases returns to pre-pandemic crisis levels, the report said. Meanwhile, the job market "continued to return to balance in the first half of the year". Labor demand has eased due to fewer job openings in many sectors of the economy, while labor supply continues to increase, supported by strong growth in immigration. The balance between labor demand and supply appears to be similar to the situation before the epidemic, when the labor market was relatively tight but not overheated, the report argued. In addition, nominal wage growth is continuing to slow.