Fed’s Evans: Keeping unemployment below 5% would be ‘good’ outcome in inflation fight

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If the Federal Reserve can bring inflation under control with unemployment remaining under 5% that would be “pretty unusual and good,” Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said on Wednesday.

In remarks at the University of Virginia Evans said the policy projections outlined after the September Fed meeting, with the target interest rate rising to 4.6% next year and unemployment rising to around 4.4%, “could be consistent with an economy that runs below trend but doesn’t actually go into a recession…If you bring this in under 5% (unemployment) that would be pretty unusual and good.”

(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Chris Reese)