As Economy Grows, Jobs Are Still Scarce, Fed Says

Economic expansion improved last month across most of the country while hiring was limited and housing remained stagnant, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.

The economy “expanded at a modest to moderate pace” from late November through the end of December on increased holiday retail sales, demand for services and oil-and-gas extraction, the Fed said in its beige book business survey. At the same time, most industries saw “limited permanent hiring,” and the housing market remained “sluggish.”

The report may reinforce the views of a majority of Fed officials, who see an economy that is expanding without being strong enough to reduce joblessness as quickly as they would prefer. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.5 percent in December from 9.4 percent a year earlier. Fed officials are urging lawmakers to try more housing-aid programs.

“The reports on balance suggest ongoing improvement in economic conditions in recent months,” the Fed said in the report, which comes out two weeks before each meeting on monetary policy. “The combination of limited permanent hiring in most sectors and numerous active job seekers has continued to keep a lid on general wage increases.”

The beige book report reflects a “slightly better tone, slightly better data,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief United States economist at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York. Even so, “the financial market has taken recent Fed commentary as generally dovish and as a signal that the Fed is perhaps exploring more easing measures.”

The residential real estate market “largely held steady at very low levels” except for increasing construction of multifamily homes, the beige book said. The rental market tightened in some areas, the report said.

The Fed said in the report that inflation and pressures to raise prices were limited at the end of last year. Several district banks reported that “upward price pressures from rising commodity and input prices have eased substantially,” the Fed said.