Does the new Fed chair care about jobs?

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  NPR.

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  This is The Indicator from Planet Money.

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  I'm Darian Woods.

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  I'm Waylon Wong, and welcome to Jobs Thursday.

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  Jobs Thursday, yes.

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  The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its numbers for the month of June today.

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  It's a day earlier than usual because of the July 4th holiday.

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  So we're sending you into the long weekend with a look at the labor market.

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  The U.S. Economy added 57,000 jobs in June, and the unemployment rate was 4.2%.

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  That's mostly unchanged from May's rate of 4.3%.

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  As you know, we make a point of studying the jobs numbers

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  every month because it tells us how workers in the U.S.

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  Are doing.

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  The Federal Reserve cares a lot about the employment numbers, too.

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  In fact, it's legally obliged to care about jobs.

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  That's because Congress gave the Fed what's known as a dual mandate, stable prices and maximum employment.

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  But last month, new Fed Chair Kevin Walsh presided over his first interest rate decision and press conference.

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  And he had a lot to say about stable prices.

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  Price stability.

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  But you didn't talk much about maximum employment.

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