Richmond Fed’s Barkin: Low job growth sign of bottleneck in supply of workers

© Reuters/Ann Saphir FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin poses during a break at a Dallas Fed conference on technology in Dallas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The disappointing jobs report for April showed a bottleneck of workers moving into employment not a weakening recovery, Richmond Federal Reserve president Thomas Barkin said on Friday.

“I am quite hopeful we are at the brink of completing the recovery,” Barkin said, but a list of reasons including fear of the coronavirus, child care, retirements, and the availability of unemployment benefits may be holding back hiring to jobs that companies want to fill. “I don’t think the demand side is our issue anymore. It is the supply side,” Barkin said.

(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)