Speaking at a webinar, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker stressed the importance of qualitative data in understanding the labor market. Hosted by
Fed Communities, the event focused on the recent Worker Voices report, a national Fed study that engaged job seekers and workers without a four-year degree. “For us as policymakers,” said Harker, “the soft data provided by Worker Voices are equally important as, if not perhaps even more important than, numbers-driven hard data in getting a full understanding of our economic situation.”