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"Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers on Capitol Hill today that the country remains a long way away from reaching its goal in the fight against inflation. Last week, the Central Bank announced it would not raise interest rates for the first time in more than a year. But while testifying in front of the House Financial Services Committee, chairman Powell said more rate hikes are likely. \nInflation has moderated somewhat since the middle of last year. Nonetheless, inflation pressures continue to run high, and the process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go. Nearly all FOMC participants expect that it will be appropriate to raise interest rates somewhat further by the end of the year. \nCBS News political and economics reporter Sarah Ewall-Wice joins us now. Sarah, thanks for taking the time to talk with us. What else did Chairman Powell have to say on possible rate hikes? \nFederal Reserve Chairman Powell's testimony very closely resembled what he had to say during his press conference one week ago when it comes to the path forward in their efforts to combat inflation. Today he said the speed of rate hikes, which were previously very important as we saw 10 consecutive hikes before that recent pause, is not that important now. They're more focused on the level of the rate. He did signal more hikes. \nWe know from their recent projections there are suggestions of two more hikes this year. But Powell did not say specifically when we would see those or how much those would be. I want to play a little more of what he did have to say. \nWe will continue to make our decisions meeting by meeting, based on the totality of incoming data and their implications for the outlook for economic activity and inflation as well as the balance of risks. \nWe know that inflation has moderated some. It's down to 4% year over year, less than half of its annual pace around this time last year. But as you heard, there's still a long way to go toward their goal. The Fed's next meeting will come at the end of July. \nSarah, partisan differences over the Fed's policies emerged at the hearing. What did we hear from lawmakers on both sides? \nRepublicans have been very closely focused on messaging about combating inflation and high inflation. But depending on who you hear from when it comes to lawmakers, Democrats have been concerned about the other side of this balancing act, which is the workers. When borrowing costs go up, the idea is that spending and inflation will cool. But this also could mean higher unemployment. \nThat's why some Democrats and progressive economists have been raising concerns about the aggressive hikes we've seen so far and have praised the pause. It's significant at the hearing today, another Democrat also asked the Fed specifically about its willing-- or the chairman of the Fed, his willingness to trigger a recession. And Powell basically sidestepped, saying that the Fed is focused on their inflation goal at this time. \nI will say, while not specific to this hearing, Powell has remained very cautiously optimistic on the Fed's ability to execute what it's called a soft landing when it comes to a recession. \nAnd Sarah, Chairman Powell also talked about the resiliency of the job market. What did he have to say? \nYes, we've spent a lot of time focused on inflation. But the other part of the Fed's mandate is maximum employment. And Powell did note that the labor market does remain very tight. The number of jobs gained have been very strong, in most cases exceeding monthly expectations over the past few months. There have been on average 314 jobs added per month. \nPowell noted there's still a significant labor shortage. But it's not as bad as what we saw two years ago. Businesses have been able to hire workers more easily. People are not quitting at the same high rates, but it does remain elevated from before the pandemic. So there are significant signs of supply and demand coming back into a better balance. Of course, still a long way to go. \nAll right, Sarah Ewall-Wice, thank you. \nThank you. "
<https://www.cbsnews.com/video/fed-chair-expects-more-rate-hikes-amid-inflation-fight/>