if there is a bus line within and a bus stop within walking distance and not half a mile from someone's house, what that means in terms of their ability to have access to the job that may be miles away from where they live. often it is the case for working people in america they cannot afford to work where they live in the need to travel some distance. it should not require you have this financial ability to own a car, pay >> we will have to leave this reported program here. you can finish watching on a website. we go now to marks from federal reserve chair drumm powell, live coverage on c-span. chair. powell: his actions were to watch like a hawk markets and reporters worldwide. i know a different side of chair powell.

a member of the federal reserve's consumer advisory council, i had a chance to witness him and action. have a chance to see him travel, i believe the first chair of the fed to do so. i have seen the interest he has taken, and other issues that can affect low in moderate income people. there is a real pleasure to have chair powell here today to address the conference. we will hear short remarks from him. then a chance for q&a. if you have a question, we will try to get to it, put in the chat. without further ado, fed chair jerome powell. chair. powell: thank you very much, jesse. great to see you as always. good afternoon, everyone. great to be with you today. together over the past year, we have been making our way through

a very difficult time. we are not out of the woods yet, but i am glad to say we are now making real progress. while some countries are still suffering terribly in the grip of covid-19, the economic outlook in the united states is clearly brightened. vaccination levels are rising, fiscal and monetary policy providing strong support. the economy is reopening, stronger economic activity and job creation. that is a high-level perspective. from that vantage point, we see improvement. but, we should also take a look at what is happening at street level. lives and livelihoods have been affected in ways that vary from person-to-person. from family to family and community to community. the economic downturn has not fallen evenly on all americans. those least able to bear the burden have been the hardest hit. the pain is all the greater, and

let of the games we have seen in the years prior to the pandemic. covid swept in as the united states was experiencing the longest expansion in recorded history. unemployment was at 50 year lows, inflation remained under control. wages were moving up, particularly for the lowest paid workers. long-standing racial disparities in unemployment was narrowing, many but struggled for years were finding jobs. it was not until the later years of that expansion, as benefits have started to reach those on the margins, during our fed lessons events, we met with people around the country and heard repeatedly about the life-changing gains of the strong labor market. particularly at the lower end of the income spectrum.

just a few months later, the economics and decision making, we call it the schedule report, that will be published later this month, showed that for those asian adults without a bachelors degree, 20% saw layoffs in 2020. and more than 20% of black and hispanic prime age workers were laid off, compared with 14% of white workers in the same. -- the same period. small businesses have also faced immense difficulties, fed research losses of at least when he 5%. a recent federal reserve special report -- special report look specifically at the impact of businesses owned by people of color. for example, 67% of asian and black-owned firms, and 63% of

hispanic owned firms, had to reduce their operations compared with 54% for the white counterpoints. our upcoming schedule report notes that 22% will not be working or working less. 36 and 30% respectively were disproportionately affected. in a similar vein, labor force participation declined around 4% for black and hispanic women compared with 1.6 percentage points for white women and about 2% for men overall. the fed is focused on these long-standing disparities, because they weigh on the productive capacity of our economy. we will only reach our full potential when everyone can contribute to and share and the benefits of prosperity. achieving broadly shared prosperity will take action from across society, fiscal and other government policy, to private sector initiatives and the work that everyone here does.

the fed can contribute as well. using our tools, the fed promotes maximum employment and price stability, to foundations of a strong, stable economy that can approve economic outcomes for all americans. we view maximum employment as a broad and inclusive goal. those who have historically been left behind stand the best chance of

[silence] >> it appears we have lost our signal from this event with federal reserve chair jerome powell. we hope to resume our live coverage shortly. this is c-span. >> unfortunately, we are not able to fix the problem with our live signal. we hope to have this entire event for you later on our program schedule, you can check online at our website. >> tonight, on the

communicators, brookings institution vice president darrell west's cusses his book, turning point, policymaking in the era of artificial intelligence. >> is not just one revolution that is taking place, it is 10 or 20 or 30 different things taking place simultaneously. it is the growing ubiquity of technology in all of our lives, every sector, domestic policy applications as well, we have a long chapter of natural events and military applications of ai. i think, that is the unusual aspect of this period. what makes it difficult to deal with, there's so much change taking place on a widespread scale in a short period of time. we are all struggling to deal with it. >> darrell west, tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span two.

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