Workers get more flexible amid a cooler job market.

I'm David Brancaccio in New York first after briefing the Senate yesterday.

Today it's the House for Fed Chair Jerome Powell who's been hinting his team may be closer to cutting

interest rates, Marketplace's Nancy Marshall Genser reports.

Fed Chair Powell refused to speculate on exactly when we might see an interest rate cut.

He told one senator though, it doesn't seem likely the Fed's next move will be a rate hike,

and Powell emphasized the Fed has two jobs, getting inflation to its 2% goal,

but also ensuring maximum employment.

It also matters what's going on in the labor market, though.

We've also said that if the labor market weakens unexpectedly, that could be a case for loosening policy as well.

Really, we're weighing both those factors.

Powell says the Fed is looking at data on inflation and keeping interest rates high for longer to

tamp it down. He told the committee the Fed needs more confidence that inflation is

moving toward 2% before cutting rates, but Fed officials are also watching the job market.

And Paul said he knows if the Fed waits too long to lower rates,

unemployment could spike as high interest rates crimped the economy, causing layoffs or slowdown in hiring.

The Fed's next two-day meeting on interest rates starts July 30th.

Investors aren't expecting a rate cut until the September meeting, though. I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace.

Although the government survey of payrolls tells a story of about one or two hundred thousand more people getting

hired every month, a parallel government

survey of households finds the unemployment rate up half a percent in a year.

4.1 percent unemployment is not high by historic standards but higher

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