美国国家公共电台 NPR--As the Fed battles inflation, it's harder for low-income workers to buy a home

As the Fed battles inflation, it's harder for low-income workers to buy a home

Transcript¹

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to AFL-CIO chief economist² William Spriggs about how the Federal Reserve's efforts to tame inflation are affecting lower-income workers.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

What do rising interest rates in this country mean for people who would like to buy a home? Jasmine Howell (ph) would really like to know. She says she escaped domestic violence, spent time in a homeless shelter and now wants stability for herself and her son.

JASMINE HOWELL: I want to have property. I want to have something that I can call my own. I want something to pass down to my kid.

INSKEEP: So she's been trying to buy a house. She got her credit in order, took first-time homeowner classes and worked a second job to save for a down payment. And then interest rates rose.

HOWELL: It seems like I'm getting pushed out. I'm getting pushed out of the housing market and it's becoming impossible for me to build this home that I had in mind for me and my kids.

INSKEEP: Yesterday, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates another quarter point, part of the effort to battle inflation, of course. William Spriggs is watching all this. He is the chief economist for the AFL-CIO and a former chair of the Howard University economics department, where he still teaches. Welcome back to the program, sir.

WILLIAM SPRIGGS: Thank you for having me today.

INSKEEP: OK. I get it. The Fed needs to bring down inflation, which also hurts ordinary people. But what's it do to the home-buying market when interest rates keep creeping up like this?

SPRIGGS: It makes it harder for people to qualify for loans. The payment you have to make is based on the interest rate. Each increase in the interest rate ups the amount of money you have to pay and disqualifies more people.

INSKEEP: Is there an upside, though, in that cooling off the economy a bit and raising mortgage interest rates may also bring home prices down? They've been exceptionally high, of course.

SPRIGGS: While home prices have been flat - they haven't been increasing as much - housing costs in general have been dropping. We don't see it as much in the CPI because there's a lag when it shows up in the CPI - the Consumer Price Index, which is how we measure inflation. But we are going to see results of the fall in housing prices in the next few months show up in our measure of inflation.

INSKEEP: Oh, so you're telling me, I think, that Jasmine may be worried now - the person we heard from a moment ago - but she may have some more hopeful news in a few months. Is that the bottom line here?

SPRIGGS: No, I think she's still in for some turmoil³ because at these higher interest rates, people who want to buy a home are still going to be stuck with higher housing payments from those higher interest rates.

INSKEEP: OK. So the net for them is worse. Well, let's talk about another aspect of this. Of course, you can't pay the mortgage or the home equity⁴ loan if you don't have a job. Higher interest rates are intended, in part, to cool off the job market. Are some kinds of people more affected⁵ than others when that happens?

SPRIGGS: Well, yes. People who are entering the labor⁶ market need job growth. The Fed has been arguing that people are not entering the labor market. But on the margin⁷, the new job entrants are disproportionately Black and brown. And the labor force participation⁸ - the people looking for jobs - who are Black and brown has been recovering to pre-COVID levels faster than we're creating jobs. And so what happens is while they land jobs, a lot of people are still left looking. So the number of people who are unemployed⁹ also increases. So over the last four months, the unemployment rate for Hispanics has been going up. And last month, the unemployment rate for Black women went up, even though several more of them landed jobs.

INSKEEP: You are telling me, I think, that even though the overall unemployment rate remains¹⁰ low, there are a lot of people who are entering the work force or who would like to enter the work force, and they are disproportionately being shut out a little bit here as the Fed tries to cool off the labor market. Is that it?

SPRIGGS: That's exactly it. The Fed continues to say the labor market is tight, but the numbers are not consistent with that.

INSKEEP: William Spriggs of the AFL-CIO, thanks very much for your insights.

SPRIGGS: Thanks for having me.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

4 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

8 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

9 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。