Reuters (11/18/13) Jonathan Spicer

William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a staunch supporter of easy-money policies, expects economic growth to increase next year and especially in 2015, citing labor market improvements in October and better-than-expected growth in the gross domestic product in the third quarter. Even so, he says low inflation and high unemployment mean monetary policy will be “very accommodative for a considerable period of time.”

“Not only do we have some better data in hand, but also the fiscal drag, which has been holding the economy back, is likely to abate considerably over the next few years at the same time that the fundamental underpinnings of the economy are improving,” says Dudley. “We can definitely in my mind have a significantly tighter labor market and bring a lot of the unemployed and discouraged workers back to the workforce without having an inflation problem.”

Bloomberg (11/18/13) Michelle Jamrisko

Janet Yellen, vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve and nominee to succeed Ben Bernanke as Fed chairman, likely will support an easier-for-longer policy when it comes to the central bank’s asset purchase program, given that over half the gauges used to track the U.S. labor market are below prerecession levels. Unemployment, labor force participation, hiring rates, and voluntary quits are worse than when the recession began in December 2007, even though payrolls have increased and firings have slowed since then.

Yellen does not want monetary stimulus removed too soon, noting that unemployment is “still too high, reflecting a labor market and economy performing far short of their potential.” Yellen says the overall pace of spending and growth in the economy is considered along with the labor-market measures to gauge the outlook for jobs.

New York Times (11/17/13) Annie Lowrey

During the last week of December around 1.3 million people will lose access to additional weeks of jobless benefits. Another 850,000 will be denied benefits in the first three months of 2014.

Congressional Democrats and the White House are pushing to extend the amount of time covered by the unemployment insurance program, but the chances of an extension are small. The extended program was created in 2008 to combat the recession. Congress has extended the program multiple times since.