(Reuters) – The United States should reopen its economy gradually, but it can’t let the return to full employment take a decade or more the way it did during the recovery from the last crisis, the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly said on Friday.
“What I’m hoping in the baseline is we can come back safely, we listen to public health officials, we take it slow but gradual…if we do those things then I expect us to have positive growth in 2021,” Daly told CNN in an interview.
The Labor Department earlier reported the U.S. economy shed a record 20.5 million jobs in April because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked if it could take 10 or 12 years to repair the job market, she said, “I’m working night and day to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
