Labor Supply Shocks, Labor Force Entry, and Monetary Policy

Takushi Kurozumi and Willem Van Zandweghe

No 22-17, Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Abstract: Should monetary policy offset the effects of labor supply shocks on inflation and the output gap? Canonical New Keynesian models answer yes. Motivated by weak labor force participation during the pandemic, we reexamine the question by introducing labor force entry and exit in an otherwise canonical model with sticky prices and wages. The entry decision generates an employment channel of monetary policy, and a labor supply shock to the value of nonparticipation in the labor market induces a policy trade-off between stabilization of the employment gap and wage growth. For an adverse labor supply shock, optimal policy dampens the decline in employment to rein in wage growth, which entails a period of higher inflation and a positive output gap. A welfare analysis of policy rules shows that monetary policy should not lean against the employment gap.

Keywords: Labor supply shock; Labor force entry; Employment channel of monetary policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 E31 E52 J21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39
Date: 2022-05-24, Revised 2020-08-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-lma, nep-mac and nep-mon
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DOI: 10.26509/frbc-wp-202217

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