Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran on Wednesday described data that showed employment at US companies increased in October as "a welcome surprise," though he reiterated interest rates need to be lower.
Private-sector payrolls increased by 42,000 after a revised 29,000 decline a month earlier, according to ADP Research data released Wednesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a gain of 30,000.
The ADP report has taken on greater importance as the longest government shutdown in US history delays the releases of official economic data.
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"You continue to see modest potential overall job creation. You continue to see moderating wages and you continue to see indications that labor demand may not be as strong as we'd like it to be from a cyclical perspective," Miran said Wednesday in an interview on Yahoo Finance. "All of that to me is an indication that rates could be a little bit lower than where they are now."
Miran has repeatedly called for looser monetary policy, dissenting against policymakers' decisions to lower the Fed's benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point in September and again in October in favor of half-point reductions.
Fed officials cut their benchmark rate last week by a quarter-point, reflecting continued worry over the labor market. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, speaking to reporters Wednesday after the decision, said another cut in December was "not a forgone conclusion."
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A handful of other Fed policymakers have since voiced their concerns that the central bank risked allowing inflation to remain high by moving too far in lowering rates.
"Policy is too restrictive," Miran said. "Continuing to run policy that restrictive is to also run unnecessary risks."
