9 Ben Bernanke (2012) surveyed the early years of the recovery at this symposium in 2012. -6 from a peak of 10 percent to 5 percent, roughly equal to the median FOMC participant’s estimate of the natural rate of unemployment at the time.
At this point, the Committee decided that it was prudent to begin gradually raising the federal funds rate based on the closely monitored premise that the increasingly healthy economy called for more-normal interest rates.