The US economy has recovered from the Covid-19 shock faster than policy-makers expected, but the momentum may not be sustained, Lael Brainard warned on July 14.

The member of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors said interpreting macroeconomic data since the crisis began was more complex than it might appear. While the improvement in the labour market “started earlier, and has been stronger” than the Fed anticipated, many of the gains were among people who had only been temporarily laid off