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More fiscal help likely required if unemployment stays high: Fed’s Barkin – Metro US

More fiscal help likely required if unemployment stays high: Fed’s Barkin

FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin
FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin poses during a break at a Dallas Fed conference on technology in Dallas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If U.S. unemployment remains persistently high additional fiscal support may be needed, Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Barkin said on Friday.

“If that did happen, that would be historically high levels. I think we would be asking the question of what fiscal support would be valuable for businesses to encourage them to hire, and for individuals that are out of work to help bridge them to employment…I think that would be an important conversation,” Barkin said in an online event hosted by the Richmond Fed.

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Franklin Paul)