MNI BRIEF: Daly: Immigration Curb Poses Little Threat To Jobs

The Trump administration's immigration curbs are not having much aggregate impact in the U.S. job market, which continues to be solid, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly told MNI on Thursday. 

"I don't see this right now as being a large threat to either the balance in the labor market or the potential run-up in wage inflation," she told a MNI Livestreamed Connect event. 

Businesses in certain sectors including tourism, travel and construction have reported it's more challenging to find workers but "it hasn't really come up to be in the aggregate data," she said. "And even in those sectors, you're seeing some continued growth, and not a lot of continued growth in the wage demand." 

If firms can find other technology solutions or domestic workforce to take up those roles, then the slowdown in immigration has a limited impact, she said.

The breakeven rate for U.S. job growth is around 100,000 a month, and the Labor Department is still reporting payrolls creation at a higher level, Daly said. "We have a lot of room before we get to something that I would think of as a steady state in the economy." (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Hiring Softer But Not Enough For Fed Rate Cuts)