New York Fed president says economic headwinds remain

Despite more upbeat data in recent months, the U.S. economy still faces some serious challenges ahead, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in an April 12 speech in Syracuse.

William Dudley was at the Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse to talk about economic conditions nationally and across the upstate New York region.

Dudley noted that despite job gains in recent months and a 3 percent annual growth rate in real gross domestic product in the fourth quarter, it is too soon to say the U.S. economy is out of the woods, according to a transcript of his prepared remarks released by the New York Fed. Challenges ahead include rising gas prices, continued weakness in the housing market, and fiscal drag at the federal, state, and local levels, he said.

Regionally, upstate New York, including Syracuse, fared better during the recession than other parts of the country. Employment fell by a little more than 4 percent, which is just two-thirds of the decline that occurred nationally, Dudley said in the transcript.

“Across Upstate New York, broadly speaking, the cycle of recession and recovery has been much less pronounced than in the nation, and even the state as a whole,” Dudley said in his prepared remarks. “One reason why Upstate New York weathered the economic storm a bit better than the nation is the resiliency of its housing markets.” 

Home prices, he said, have actually increased in Syracuse by close to 10 percent since 2006. That compares with a decline of more than 30 percent nationally.

Job growth, Dudley added, has remained somewhat weak in the area. To date, the region has only regained a third of the 13,000 jobs lost during the recession.

Sectors that have expanded include business services and leisure and hospitality. The region’s hospitals and universities also provide a solid base for growth, Dudley said.