The curious case of the missing workforce

Washington

WHEN Shalika Tisinger begins looking for a job this summer, Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell will be rooting for her. Ms Tisinger, 33, dropped out of college at 19 and bounced through a series of low-paying jobs. Struggling to find a solid career path, she went back to school in 2014. In May she'll graduate from Atlanta Technical College and expects to be certified as a surgical technician by the end of July. "There is no way around it," she said. "You have to have some kind of degree to get a good position."

There are a lot of Shalika Tisingers in the US and just how many of them can be drawn back into the labour force is a subject of growing interest among Mr Powell and his fellow policymakers, who gather next week to ponder when and how fast to raise interest rates.