U.S. employment won't recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2023: Fed official

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- While the U.S. economy has rebounded faster than originally anticipated following a large contraction in the second quarter, U.S. employment probably won't recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, a senior Federal Reserve official said Tuesday.

"The scenario of continued growth that I have presented depends on a sustained decline in the rate of new infections - probably a result of nearly universal mask-wearing, especially indoors - that ensures only sporadic new outbreaks," Patrick Harker, president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, said at a virtual event held by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum.