Even so, some slack may remain: Relative to pre-crisis levels, the prime-age employment-to-population ratio remains low and the share of employees working part time for economic reasons remains elevated.
Following a long period of stubbornly below-target inflation, I have been encouraged by recent signs of gradual progress toward our inflation target, as the effects of earlier dollar appreciation and oil price declines appear to be waning. Over the 12-month period ending in November, core personal consumption expenditures prices increased 1.6 percent.