Description: We calculate the median CPI and the 16 percent trimmed-mean CPI based on data released in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly CPI report. Median CPI is the one-month inflation rate of the component whose expenditure weight is in the 50th percentile of price changes. 16 percent trimmed-mean CPI is a weighted average of one-month inflation rates of components whose expenditure weights fall below the 92nd percentile and above the 8th percentile of price changes. Benefits: By omitting outliers (small and large price changes) and focusing on the interior of the distribution of price changes, the median CPI and the 16 percent trimmed-mean CPI can provide a better signal of the underlying inflation trend than either the all-items CPI or the CPI excluding food and energy (also known as core CPI).

In a monthly email, we’ll deliver to you, and more than 3,200 other subscribers, a personal letter, our latest work, and a calendar of events. Join us and subscribe now to Cleveland Fed Digest.

The Federal Reserve, along with other co-sponsoring Federal Reserve Banks and regional planning universities, have made the decision to again host the National College Fed Challenge virtually to ensure the competition can be held in 2021. Please see College Fed Challenge 2021 Rules and Steps.

The virtual format will continue to allow schools outside the current Fed Challenge districts to compete in a newly created "at-large" new region.

Background: The Cleveland Fed has been maintaining a survey of consumers for their views on how they are responding to COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus of late 2019, and how COVID-19 is likely to impact the economy. Description: We update the results from these surveys on a weekly basis.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland today announced that it has begun the search for the Bank’s new first vice president and chief operating officer.

The first vice president and chief operating officer is the second-ranking official of the Cleveland Reserve Bank, with responsibility for overseeing a broad range of services to financial institutions, the U.S. Treasury, and other stakeholders. The position also directs the Bank’s operations and risk management, has executive oversight of the Transforming Tax Collections program, and is accountable for fostering a corporate culture that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion, and opportunity.

Gregory L. Stefani, who has served as first vice president and chief operating officer with the Cleveland Fed since 2011, announced in May that he plans to retire from the Bank by January 31, 2022.

Dwight Smith, chair of the Bank’s board of directors, said, “As Greg demonstrated during his exemplary tenure, the position...

Are there well-paying jobs for people without a four-year college degree? If so, what (and where) are these jobs? The Cleveland Fed, in partnership with Atlanta and Philadelphia Feds, finds out. Read more.

by Erik Tiersten-Nyman

Considering that my internship has been an all-virtual experience this summer, I should not have been surprised when the topic of broadband and the digital divide was a reoccurring theme throughout the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Policy Summit 2021. During the closing keynote, Cleveland Fed president, Loretta J. Mester, said, “[Broadband] is not only a rural issue, but an urban one, too…digitalization is happening in all parts of the economy.” Access to broadband was a theme in the Cleveland Fed’s summer 2021 Community Issues Survey report, too. Many survey respondents reported that their clients—people in low- and moderate-income communities—had difficulties accessing broadband and computer services, making it difficult to cope with the shift to digital formats resulting from the pandemic. During my time at the Bank, I was reminded time and time again—access to broadband is integral in today’s economy.

Though the pandemic has...

Businesses with no employees other than the owner often turned to personal funds in response to financial challenges during the pandemic. These nonemployers were less likely than employer firms to seek pandemic-related emergency funding and less likely to be approved.

Our mission is founded in public service—strengthening the economic performance of the nation and our region and making a difference in the communities we serve. At our Bank, you’ll get the benefits you need and have the work–life balance you want. Your health, finances, and professional achievement matter to us. And our culture is one of inclusion, in which diversity of thought is encouraged and uniqueness embraced.

Be part of something big. Be part of our future. Make the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland your next career move.

Businesses with no employees other than the owner often turned to personal funds in response to financial challenges during the pandemic. These nonemployers were less likely than employer firms to seek pandemic-related emergency funding and less likely to be approved.

We design, build, operate, and maintain innovative payment solutions, and we build technologies that exceed the expectations of our clients. Our products and services provide fast, secure, and efficient collections across the country. Within the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is a mission-driven, financial-services technology (fintech) group that serves the US Department of the Treasury, US federal agencies, and the people of the United States through digital products and payment solutions.

We are a service provider for the US Treasury in the areas of revenue collections and eCommerce. Transforming Tax Collections (T2C) is our initiative to modernize tax collections on behalf of the US Treasury. Our objectives include developing, operating, and maintaining innovative payments solutions end-to-end.

One of Treasury Services’ technologies, the result of the T2C initiative, will support digital tax collections. We are focused on delivering a new service with an...

In a monthly email, we’ll deliver to you, and more than 3,200 other subscribers, a personal letter, our latest work, and a calendar of events. Join us and subscribe now to Cleveland Fed Digest.

Bryan Huddleston has been promoted to vice president in the Supervision and Regulation Department. In this role, his responsibilities now include oversight of compliance supervision in addition to regional and community banking organization supervision and the processing of expansion and other applications filed with the Federal Reserve by banking organizations in the Fourth District, which includes Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia.

Huddleston joined the Cleveland Fed in 1983 as an assistant examiner and was promoted to examiner, senior examiner, and supervisory examiner. Most recently, he was an assistant vice president responsible for the supervision of all community banks, bank holding companies, and thrift holding companies in the Fourth District and for general oversight of banking supervisors and examiners at the Bank’s Cincinnati Branch.

He holds a BS in business administration from Clarion...

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is one of 12 reserve banks created by Congress to help promote a healthy U.S. economy. Its mission is to maintain stable prices and maximum employment, while also serving as the fiscal agent for the government. While Cleveland Fed employees work on behalf of the American people, they are not government employees. The bank is committed to helping provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system.

Every year in a normal economy, we see the prices for most everyday goods and services go up. This process, known as inflation, affects everyone: workers, businesses, people on fixed incomes, lenders and borrowers. But how much do you know about this important phenomenon in our economy?

Join us for a FedTalk featuring Robert Rich, senior economic and policy advisor and director of the Center for Inflation Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Rob will explain what inflation is and isn’t, what factors influence inflation’s behavior, and how inflation fits into the objectives of the Federal Reserve.

A Q&A session will follow the presentation.

Presenter: Robert Rich, Senior Economic and Policy Advisor, Director of the Center for Inflation Research, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Background: The Cleveland Fed has been maintaining a survey of consumers for their views on how they are responding to COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus of late 2019, and how COVID-19 is likely to impact the economy. Description: We update the results from these surveys on a weekly basis.

We design, build, operate, and maintain innovative payment solutions, and we build technologies that exceed the expectations of our clients. Our products and services provide fast, secure, and efficient collections across the country. Within the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is a mission-driven, financial-services technology (fintech) group that serves the US Department of the Treasury, US federal agencies, and the people of the United States through digital products and payment solutions.

We are a service provider for the US Treasury in the areas of revenue collections and eCommerce. Transforming Tax Collections (T2C) is our initiative to modernize tax collections on behalf of the US Treasury. Our objectives include developing, operating, and maintaining innovative payments solutions end-to-end.

One of Treasury Services’ technologies, the result of the T2C initiative, will support digital tax collections. We are focused on delivering a new service with an...