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Journal Article
At the Richmond Fed: Studying Community Development Financial Institutions
They say that money makes the world go round — the ability to borrow it can shape a person's life, livelihood, and neighborhood. But just because trillions of dollars are loaned to households and businesses every quarter doesn't mean lending is equally available to those who need it the most.Community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, emerged in the 1970s to improve credit access for underserved individuals and communities, offering a range of financial services and educational programs. But little was known about the impact of these organizations. The Richmond Fed launched the ...
Discussion Paper
Fifth District Firms Report Cautious Optimism Going Into 2023
The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath have required constant shifts in how businesses operate. Not surprisingly, uncertainty has been a theme among many firms in the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's business outreach in the last few years. To better understand what firms are expecting for 2023, we asked them for their outlook and the strategies they might take to prepare for possible economic scenarios.
Discussion Paper
CDFIs on the Prize: Recent Federal Awards for Community Development Financial Institutions
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are mission-driven banks, credit unions, loan funds, and venture capital funds that expand financial access to low-and-moderate income (LMI) and underserved populations.In the past two years, after recognizing CDFIs' ability to reach and serve populations that were hard hit by the pandemic, Congress appropriated a total of $12 billion to the industry through three special programs. The money was allocated to the U.S. Department of the Treasury through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. The scale of these funds set aside for CDFIs is ...
Discussion Paper
The State of Hiring in the Fifth District
The past two years have been marked by a historically tight labor market in which many firms have had difficulty hiring and retaining workers who possess the necessary skill sets. In a recent post, we explored evidence from our business surveys that suggests that the labor market may be cooling somewhat. Our employment and availability of skills indexes have returned to pre-pandemic levels, and our estimates of wage growth have come down from their 2022 peak. Nonetheless, wage growth estimates remain above pre-pandemic levels, and data from our August surveys suggests that many firms are ...
Discussion Paper
Recent Trends in Fifth District Housing Market Indicators
There is evidence that the tight housing markets of the past few years are starting to loosen, with increased supply and falling prices. However, many Americans still struggle to buy a home. Between the fall of 2020 and the summer of 2022, home price growth accelerated in the United States and in all Fifth District states after being relatively steady for a decade. Using the CoreLogic Home Price Index, price increases were most dramatic in North Carolina and South Carolina, where year-over-year increases reached historic highs of 25 percent. While price increases remain high relative to the ...
Discussion Paper
Unlocking Housing Supply: What Can We Learn About Recent Construction and Permitting Patterns in Our Region?
Since 2020, housing has become increasingly unaffordable for many families throughout the United States. Nationally, home prices have risen more than 40 percent, on average, and rent has increased by around 22 percent. While heightened demand likely fueled the rapid buildup in home prices since the COVID-19 pandemic, a chronic undersupply of housing from underbuilding in the 2010s also contributes to current housing affordability challenges.Recent rates of new residential construction have varied considerably across communities due in part to differences in the availability and cost of ...
Discussion Paper
Remotely Interesting? Sensing Tools Shed Light on On-Site Expectations in the Fifth District
The Richmond Fed uses a set of tools to continually gather information on economic activity across our Fifth District. These sensing tools include our industry roundtable conversations with business and community leaders and our monthly business surveys. In addition to collecting regular data on indicators such as wage growth and price changes, we are also keeping a pulse on timely topics that play into firm decision-making. One key pattern we've monitored is the intensity of remote work and return-to-office decisions, as businesses and workers have navigated pandemic-era uncertainty and a ...
Discussion Paper
State Labor Market Update: January 2024 Data Release
This article covers the latest state-level employment data release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, written by our team of regional economists. The summaries for each state are attributed accordingly below so that any quotes drawn from this article can be properly credited. Data used for this article are at the time of writing and are subject to future revisions by the BLS.
Discussion Paper
Urban Marylanders Are Migrating to More Affordable and Smaller Metro Areas
With its unemployment rate reaching 1.9 percent in December 2023, Maryland has the tightest labor market in the country, which poses an ongoing hiring challenge for the state's employers. A key contributor to the tightness is the state's slow post-pandemic labor force recovery, especially in the state's inner-ring suburbs of the District of Columbia. While some of the state's former workers and job seekers have dropped out of the labor force but have remained residents, others have left the state altogether, according to recent statistics that placed Maryland in the top 5 states by net ...
Journal Article
District Digest
Many Americans take access to credit for granted. It's easy for them to underestimate the importance of credit. But without it, a person's economic advancement may become more challenging. For example, in many areas, the inability to secure an auto loan — and thus, a car — could limit employment options, access to healthy food, or medical care.Different people have disparate experiences in accessing credit. For those who are financially underserved, the market has produced credit alternatives. But many of those alternatives, such as payday lenders, offer unfavorable terms that often ...