Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. economy is on the path toward taming inflation without a deep economic slowdown, achieving a so-called soft landing.
βTo me a soft landing is the economy continues to grow, the labor market remains strong and inflation comes down. And I believe thatβs the path weβre on,β Yellen said Tuesday at The Wall Street Journalβs CEO Council Summit.
Yellen spoke soon after monthly Labor Department data showed inflation holding nearly steady, with the consumer-price index rising 3.1% in November from a year earlier. That is a slight slowdown from the 3.2% reading in October.
Economists for months have debated whether a soft landing for the U.S. economy was possible. Earlier in the year, the consensus among economists surveyed by the Journal was that the economy would enter a recession, though those expectations faded over time.