In the context of the San Francisco Fed’s work, equity refers to the idea that all people can fully contribute their talents and skills to participate in and benefit from the economy, regardless of their race, ethnicity, geographic location, or any other demographic factor. At the San Francisco Fed, we study underlying conditions that shape people’s access to opportunity as part of our mission to promote a healthy, inclusive, sustainable economy and support the nation’s financial and payment systems. Where people live—i.e., what cities or neighborhoods are affordable to them—within a region such as the Bay Area, the Inland Empire, the Seattle metro area, or the Salt Lake City metro area affects their starting point for economic participation.

August 2, 2022

In the last 12 months, American consumers have used slightly more cash for transactions than they did at this time last year. This rise in cash usage along with a small increase in purchases and peer-to-peer payments made in-person may imply that some consumers are moving back to the way they did business prior to COVID-19.

The rise in cash payments is one key finding from a recent survey the Federal Reserve Banks of San Francisco and Atlanta conducted to better understand U.S. consumers’ payment behavior. Additional key findings from the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice highlight how consumer cash preferences have changed during the pandemic:

Our police officers serve as the face of the SF Fed, both as frontline defenders in our five locations and ambassadors in the communities we serve. Our Police Services team is made up of law enforcement officers, analysts, security technologists, and training specialists; in short, no matter what skills you bring to the table, we have a place for you. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or just starting your career in law enforcement, there are exciting opportunities for you in Police Services.

All SF Fed police officers are considered Federal law enforcement and are expected to uphold that responsibility accordingly. Our people in uniform are high-quality individuals looking for something outside of the normal role of law enforcement. Being a protector of the SF Fed means taking on a defensive posture, as opposed to patrolling a traditional beat. It means being in constant company of your fellow officers, so being a team player is essential. And it means being open to...

Households are currently expecting inflation to run high in the short run but to remain muted over the more distant future. Given this divergence, what role do short-run and long-run household inflation expectations play in determining what workers expect for future wages? Data show that wage inflation is sensitive to movements in household short-run inflation expectations but not to those over longer horizons. This points to an upside risk for inflation, as workers negotiate higher wages that businesses could pass on to consumers by raising prices.

The Information + Technology Services (ITS) group at the SF Fed contributes critical enterprise services across the entire Federal Reserve System and is vital to the overall success of the Fed.

We use cloud transformation, artificial intelligence/machine learning, data and analytics, and cutting-edge application architectures to promote a healthy and inclusive economy that works for everyone.

August 8, 2022

In 2021, the San Francisco Fed launched Unlocking Our Potential, a graduate student essay contest, to deepen our understanding of the economic impact of inequities in support of our full employment mandate. Aina Puig, a macroeconomics PhD student specializing in inequality topics at American University, authored one of two essays selected through the contest. As a Summer 2022 Research Scholar at the SF Fed, Aina refined and further developed her research by working closely with the Economic Research team. She shares her experience with the essay contest, her time at the SF Fed, and her hopes for her research moving forward.

While the SF Fed is a Reserve Bank, we’re not what you might expect. We’re unreserved here. That means we seek new and diverse perspectives. We spark conversations and encourage debate. We build opportunity. We pursue careers that are true to ourselves, from economists and cash processors to bank supervisors and cloud engineers. When you join the SF Fed, you join a team of people working together to promote an inclusive economy that works for everyone. If that’s the kind of impact you’d like to make with your everyday work, find your next career opportunity here.

Households are currently expecting inflation to run high in the short run but to remain muted over the more distant future. Given this divergence, what role do short-run and long-run household inflation expectations play in determining what workers expect for future wages? Data show that wage inflation is sensitive to movements in household short-run inflation expectations but not to those over longer horizons. This points to an upside risk for inflation, as workers negotiate higher wages that businesses could pass on to consumers by raising prices.

September 8, 2021

The pandemic exposed many of the cracks in how our country approaches child care and early care and education (ECE). It also created an opportunity to address and improve how we support children, working parents, and ECE professionals.

September 13, 2021

Today the San Francisco Fed is introducing our new brand that conveys one thing: We work for you.

Our decision to rebrand is about something much deeper than colors and fonts. It’s about telling our unfiltered story as a public service organization. Who we are. What we stand for. The positive impact we want to have by meeting our mission. Because we want the people we serve to know us—the real us—and understand we are their Fed. That’s the only way we can start a dialogue that is crucial to meeting our mission.

In honor of that, you’ll see that our new logo includes a dot and a line—an abstract symbol of a person with outstretched arms. This may seem like an atypical logo for a Federal Reserve Bank. But we didn’t create it to be different; we created it to communicate why we come to work every day. Our new logo represents our commitment to engaging with the diverse communities we serve so we can understand their economic realities. So...

I was born in Tucumcari, New Mexico, a very small town on Route 66 near the Texas border. My fathers’ family settled in New Mexico when it was a territory of Spain in the early 1700’s; my mother’s family migrated from Mexico City to the US in the 1940’s. Both families are proud Mexican-Americans but are at different ends of the spectrum in terms of their temperament, religion, and experience as Americans.

As one of the founding families of historic Santa Fe (did you know Santa Fe predates Jamestown by 9 years?), my father’s family were hard-working, stable-but-poor farmers. Over several generations, they had to learn to adjust to the rapid cultural hegemony brought by the influx of settlers to New Mexico in the late 1800s and 1900s — a couple hundred years after the Spaniards founded Santa Fe. My mother’s side of the family immigrated to the U.S. in the 1940’s and was more charismatic and mercurial compared to my father’s family, and you can tell just from their chosen...

First Glance 12L?provides a quarterly look at banking and economic conditions within the Federal Reserve System’s Twelfth District. Paycheck Protection Program forgiveness accelerated during the quarter, overshadowing other loan growth. Consequently, net new lending trailed deposit growth, contributing to additional on-balance sheet liquidity. Economic improvements and better-than-expected asset quality enabled low—and in some cases negative—credit loss provisions, which helped boost bank profits. Problem loan ratios remained tame given stimulus-related relief and improved economic activity during the quarter. By mid-July, District payrolls had improved to 95.1% of pre-pandemic (February 2020) levels, from a trough of 85.5% in April 2020. But the national employment picture for August suggests that the Delta variant-fueled surge in virus cases in the summer may have chilled optimism and economic activity. Home prices continued to increase at double-digit annual rates in most...