The US may be seeing the “first stirrings” of a long-awaited increase in inflation as the impact of a strong jobs market works its way through the economy, according to the Federal Reserve’s second-in-command.

美联储(Fed)副主席表示，随着表现强劲的就业市场对经济产生影响，美国可能出现了各方期待已久的通胀上扬“初步迹象”。

In a speech to a group of business economists yesterday, Stanley Fischer, the Fed’s vice-chairman, dismissed critics within the profession who have pointed to wage stagnation in the US as evidence that the traditional link between strong employment and inflation “must have been broken”.

斯坦利•费希尔(Stanley Fischer)昨日在对一群企业经济学家发表讲话时，反驳了这一行的批评人士，他们以美国的工资停滞为证据，称就业强劲与通胀间的传统关联“一定已经被打破了”。

“I don’t believe that. Rather the link has never been very strong, but it exists, and we may well at present be seeing the first stirrings of an increase in the inflation rate — something that we would like to happen,” he told the National Association of Business Economists.

费希尔对全美企业经济学家协会(National Association of Business Economists)表示：“我不相信这种说法。确切地说，这种关联从来就不是很强，但它存在着，而我们很可能正在目睹通胀率上扬的初步迹象——而这正是我们希望发生的事情。”

The comments were his last in public before the March 15-16 meeting of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, during which markets and Fed observers expect the US central bank to hold rates steady thanks to rising concerns about the global economy.

美联储联邦公开市场委员会(FOMC)将于3月15日至16日召开政策制定会议，这是费希尔在会前的最后一次公开讲话。由于对全球经济的担忧不断上升，市场和美联储观察人士预计美国央行在此次会议上将维持利率不变。