Fed’s Lacker: 6.5% Jobs Target Risky, Will Take Years to Hit

“The Federal Reserve has set a 6.5 percent unemployment-rate target for when it feels it can consider raising currently rock-bottom interest rates, although such a move is a rather risky one, according to one U.S. central banker.

A 6.5 percent unemployment rate won’t come for another three years, said Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker, who added pegging a specific unemployment rate to when interest rates may tighten wasn’t his preferable course of action.

“I see unemployment coming down to the low 7 [percent range] sometime after next year, in 2014 or so,” Lacker told CNBC. “It could take a while to get back to 6.5 percent.”

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