Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans on Monday said he supports the enactment of another relief bill.
“Fiscal support, I believe, would be welcomed and effective,” he said at a conference hosted by the National Association for Business Economics.
Evans said that the CARES Act, enacted in March, provided relief to “many disadvantaged sectors” and that additional aid is needed, as provisions in the first bill have either expired or are nearing expiration.
“The economy has done reasonably well, but now we’re starting to feel the effects of those relief programs waning, and we’re finding out how resilient the economy really is,” he said.
He also cautioned the unemployment rate could spike if more relief is not provided.
The economy added 661,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate fell to 7.9% in September, the Labor Department reported last week.
The report showed, like in previous reports, a historically large number of job gains. Still, the pace of the recovery has fallen off the trajectory that would be needed to return the economy quickly to its pre-pandemic health.
Evans warned that absent another relief bill, employment gains could turn into losses.
“Fiscal policy support is important if we’re going to avoid widespread employment cuts beyond what we have already seen,” he said.
