The US Federal Reserve (FED) said Wednesday that fewer and fewer companies in the country offer the option of teleworking to their employees, pointing to less flexibility on the part of companies as the strength of the labor market gradually softens. .
“Some districts have indicated that wage pressures have eased. Wage increases are expected to continue to moderate”, added the institution in its Beige Book, an analysis of the economic situation that it publishes eight times a year.
The document maintains the trend that the institution already warned about in its previous edition, published in January: that the employment situation continues to be robust and that inflation, despite moderating, continues to affect consumption.
Fed contacts assured that they do not expect economic conditions to improve in the short term due to the great global uncertainty.
However, nothing in the report suggests that the institution is considering accelerating its interest rate hikes again, as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell suggested in a speech to the US Senate on Tuesday.
In order to reduce inflation, from 6.4% in January, the Fed has carried out a series of rate hikes, eight in the last year. The last one occurred on February 1 and was lower than the previous ones, 0.25 points.
With this increase, the rates stood in a range of 4.5% and 4.75%, the highest figure since September 2007.