(Reuters) – The debt some firms built up before the coronavirus pandemic makes the U.S. economy more vulnerable and could slow the pace of the recovery, risking lasting damage to the women and minority workers most affected by job losses, Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren said Tuesday.
“Those segments of the labor market most affected by amplified business cycles – when financial stability ‘guardrails’ are limited – can be populated by those workers who are most vulnerable and least able to adapt to the changed economic environment,” Rosengren said during remarks prepared for a webinar on Tuesday. “That imbalanced human toll is a bad outcome for democracy as well as the economy.”
(Reporting by Jonnelle Marte; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)