![](\"https:\/\/assets.sitespeaker.link\/embed\/skins\/default\/play-icon.png\"\/){kind=icon}
Listen to this article<\/p>\n Listen to this article<\/p>\n
The basics:<\/p>\n
Philadelphia Fed CEO meets with South Jersey business, community leaders Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia<\/a> President and CEO Anna Paulson<\/a> said conversations with South Jersey business and community leaders revealed a mix of resilience and caution as employers navigate higher energy costs, housing affordability challenges, economic uncertainty, transportation hurdles and the emergence of artificial intelligence<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Paulson became the 12th president and CEO of the Philadelphia Fed<\/a> in July 2025, succeeding Patrick Harker. She has spent much of her first year in the role traveling throughout the Third District to hear directly from workers, employers, financial institutions and community organizations. The region includes South Jersey counties Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer, Ocean and Salem, as well as Eastern and Central Pennsylvania, and all of Delaware.\n<\/p>\n During a recent two-day swing through South Jersey, Paulson met with workforce-development leaders, business owners, bankers and logistics stakeholders while visiting organizations including the Port of Camden and nonprofit Hopeworks,<\/a> which provides technology training, paid work experience and job placement services for young adults facing barriers to employment.<\/p>\n At Camden-based <\/a>Hopeworks<\/a>, Paulson met with trainees and interns to learn more about the organization\u2019s efforts to prepare workers for careers in fields including information technology, AI and cybersecurity.\n<\/p>\n The trip also included an economic outlook<\/a> presentation and discussion hosted by the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey.<\/a> During the event, business leaders raised concerns ranging from inflation and energy costs to workforce challenges and economic uncertainty.\n<\/p>\n Getting the job done<\/p>\n \u201cOne theme in the whole trip was this opportunity to hear from different parts of the economy,\u201d Paulson told NJBIZ in a recent interview. \u201cStarting with Hopeworks trainees and interns. Folks who are overcoming some really important barriers and are super excited to join the economy and have a ton to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n She described Hopeworks as \u201ctotally impressive.\u201d The nonprofit\u2019s model has proven so successful in Camden that it is now expanding into Newark<\/a>. \u201cThat was really interesting \u2013 and the just the way they\u2019re teaching and giving people experience in accountability, and what it takes to be an effective member of a team and to contribute on the job,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, combining that with some conversations with employers who, for the most part, are saying that they can find the workers they need. But there are spots where they\u2019re struggling to fill jobs and they need to train people.\n<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they need people who are willing to do complicated, messy work sometimes,\u201d Paulson noted. \u201cA lot of why these on-the-ground experiences and the conversations are so important to me is that I like to put those dots together.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Beyond the numbers<\/p>\n Stressing the importance of such visits, Paulson continued, \u201cA lot of what we do is analyze data, look at numbers, understand the latest economic trends. But there are real people and real businesses and real communities behind those numbers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Paulson said those conversations are an important complement to the economic data policymakers analyze every day.\n<\/p>\n \u201cGoing out and getting to have those conversations and to see how the economic environment is shaping people\u2019s behavior and their decisions is really important for both grounding myself in what\u2019s really going on, but also getting a little bit of a glimpse into the future as people are making decisions right now that haven\u2019t yet been reflected in the data,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n Going out and getting to have those conversations and to see how the economic environment is shaping people\u2019s behavior and their decisions is really important for both grounding myself in what\u2019s really going on, but also getting a little bit of a glimpse into the future\u2026 She referenced ongoing dialogue on supply chains and the cost of transportation.\n<\/p>\n \u201cSo, then getting to spend some time at the port, actually being on a ship, seeing the steel unloaded,\u201d she said. \u201cSeeing all this structural steel piled up that\u2019s destined for a data center somewhere. Seeing the train tracks piled up that are destined to help somebody get from point A to point B \u2014 and just the journey that it\u2019s taken.\n<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the folks who are working on the ship, the folks who are unloading it. All the expertise and commitment that that takes. Again, for me, it\u2019s really important to have that concrete, on-the-ground experience that complements the data and the analysis.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Common theme<\/p>\n She then discussed the top challenges and issues brought up by the businesses she visited.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of the themes were how are people coping with higher energy prices and what did that mean for their businesses,\u201d Paulson said. \u201cThat was one theme that came up in all of our conversations, whether we were talking to employers, to bankers, at the port.\u201d Paulson said businesses across sectors described different approaches to managing rising costs. Some companies are able to pass transportation and fuel expenses through to customers, while others are absorbing additional costs or finding creative ways to support suppliers and customers.\n<\/p>\n She pointed to a discussion involving the agricultural sector, where a business was helping finance fertilizer purchases for downstream customers facing elevated costs stemming from the war in Iran and the resulting bottleneck in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s just really interesting the creative ways in which businesses are coping with the myriad of challenges,\u201d said Paulson.\n<\/p>\n Change can be good, but not uncertainty<\/p>\n The theme of uncertainty surfaced repeatedly throughout Paulson\u2019s South Jersey conversations.\n<\/p>\n \u201cA theme I heard from especially from bankers was change is fine, but change that goes back and forth and back and forth is actually harder to deal with,\u201d she explained. \u201cSometimes uncertainty is more challenging than actually something that might be hard to adjust to, but there\u2019s certainty about it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n A theme I heard from especially from bankers was change is fine, but change that goes back and forth and back and forth is actually harder to deal with. Businesses across industries are trying to determine how long current conditions may persist and what that means for investment and planning decisions, she added.\u00a0\u201cPeople are processing all of that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Housing affordability also emerged as a significant issue, particularly in communities seeking to attract and retain workers<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to bring workers in; housing is expensive,\u201d said Paulson. \u201cYou kind of have this dichotomy between vacation homes and workforce housing, and what\u2019s going to get built.\u201d\n<\/p>\n She noted that developers often have stronger economic incentives to build higher-priced homes than workforce housing, creating challenges for employers trying to grow their workforce.\u00a0\u201cSo that\u2019s a challenge for folks, and Southern New Jersey does have housing affordability challenges, for sure,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n Mood check<\/p>\n Asked to characterize the mood among business leaders, Paulson described it as a combination of caution and resilience.\n<\/p>\n \u201cReally waiting to see,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of people\u2019s outlook depends on what happens, how the conflict in the Middle East gets resolved \u2014 and when it gets resolved. And when energy prices come down. And yet, they\u2019re seeing relatively steady conditions, and people are powering through. More to come, \u2018obviously\u2019<\/p>\n Paulson is approaching her first anniversary next month since taking the helm at the Philadelphia Fed.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s that been like navigating all of that?\u201d NJBIZ asked.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve gotten to explore a little bit \u2013 more to come, obviously. But that part\u2019s been fantastic,\u201d she explained. \u201cI think it is actually really healthy to have this compare and contrast. We\u2019ve got rural areas, which are dominated by a relatively older population, who are really looking to bring folks into those communities.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThey have some exciting jobs. There\u2019s lot of manufacturing, the defense industry is strong,\u201d she explained. \u201cThen there\u2019s Philadelphia, the urban area where we\u2019ve got lots of service jobs. And it\u2019s also just been a time where there\u2019s been tremendous changes in public policy. So, you really do learn a lot \u2013 all three areas are a little more heavily weighted toward education and healthcare than the rest of the country.\n<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the policy changes affect those industries specifically, so it\u2019s been a really good opportunity to learn about what drives the economics of a university or a hospital system.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Where does AI fit in?<\/p>\n Paulson also discussed the growing role of AI, which emerged as a topic in many of her conversations across the region.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really trying to gather a lot of information. The themes and the conversations that we hear, they kind of come in two flavors,\u201d said Paulson. \u201cMost of my conversations over the last week in Southern New Jersey were, people are trying AI. They\u2019re using it for certain things. They\u2019re still gathering examples of how folks in their company are using it versus like starting a process or a company that\u2019s AI native and from scratch.\n<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we\u2019re seeing both things.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Making cash even cooler<\/p>\n Want to take the family on a patriotic field trip? The Philadelphia Fed\u2019s reopened \u2013 and free \u2013 Money in Motion attraction features interactive displays, rare currency and U.S. monetary history. Find out more here.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n She described each of those use cases as \u201cputting a piece in a mosaic.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we don\u2019t know what that picture is yet. I can see a few different scenarios,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a scenario where it really drives productivity higher, it\u2019s complementary with labor, it increases our standard of living and it\u2019s just a fantastic thing in terms of economic progress.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s versions of that where there\u2019s more labor displacement, too \u2013 where we have to be more concerned about winners and losers. And then there\u2019s things that are kind of in the middle,\u201d Paulson explained. \u201cWe have an existing economy. We have a lot of ways in which we\u2019re doing things already \u2013 and so, layering something on top and getting it fully integrated into your process.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I think about our own process building in AI at the Fed, we\u2019re probably more on the, \u2018I used it for a task, but haven\u2019t fully automated a process.’\u201d\n<\/p>\n She acknowledged there are also concerns about labor displacement and said the Federal Reserve is closely monitoring how employers are incorporating the technology into their operations.\n<\/p>\n \u201cSo far, pretty consistently across all of these surveys, people are saying, \u2018Look, it\u2019s going to slow my hiring, but it doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m going to lay folks off,’\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n Economic outlook<\/p>\n Looking more broadly at the national economy, Paulson said labor-market conditions remain strong and economic growth continues at a sustainable pace, even as inflation remains above the Federal Reserve\u2019s target.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I think about the national economy, all of these individual experiences and specific conversations in one business or another kind of feed up into this \u2013 like, let\u2019s understand everything all together,\u201d Paulson explained.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got what I would characterize as close to full employment,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that seems like it\u2019s been pretty steady. There were a few hiccups, but it\u2019s been really steady. We\u2019ve had pretty solid growth, in the 2%-ish region. And I think that\u2019s pretty consistent with economic potential.\n<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we\u2019re growing at the rate we should be, without creating pressure one way or another.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u2018Inflation is too high\u2019<\/p>\n At the same time, she said inflation continues to pose challenges for policymakers.\n<\/p>\n \u201cInflation is too high, and it\u2019s been too high for too long,\u201d Paulson stressed. \u201cPart of that is the hangover from inflation during COVID. We made a ton of progress, but we didn\u2019t get all the way back to our goal of 2%.\u201d\n<\/p>\n We\u2019re at a good place now with monetary policy \u2026 But I\u2019d like to see more progress on inflation \u2026 Tariffs and rising energy costs have added to price pressures, she noted, contributing to a complicated economic outlook.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re at a good place now with monetary policy,\u201d Paulson explained. \u201cWe can react either way if something breaks. But I\u2019d like to see more progress on inflation and be more confident that we\u2019ve got some of this stuff behind us before we make any adjustments.\n<\/p>\n \u201cBut the bottom line is we\u2019re in a good place right now.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The road ahead<\/p>\n With her first year at the helm nearing completion, Paulson said she plans to continue engaging directly with businesses, workers, financial institutions and community organizations across the district.\n<\/p>\n She mentioned one area of focus in learning more about AI and getting into some of the communities where data centers are being built<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI really want to continue to combine the on-the-ground conversations with community groups, employers and financial institutions and keep all of those connections so that we can really do our work,\u201d said Paulson. \u201cSo, I can feel like I understand on the ground what\u2019s going on with employment, inflation, and how it\u2019s affecting families and communities.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Asked where New Jersey may have opportunities for future growth, Paulson pointed to both the state\u2019s location and innovative workforce-development efforts.\n<\/p>\n
\nEnergy costs<\/a>, housing affordability<\/a> emerge as top concerns
\nBusiness outlook described as a mix of resilience, caution
\nAI<\/a> adoption growing, though widespread integration remains early<\/p>\n
\n![\"Hopeworks](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_9155-scaled-e1694626331857.jpg\"\/)
![\"Hopeworks](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_9155-scaled-e1694626331857.jpg\")
Hopeworks is a Camden-headquartered tech education and teaching nonprofit. The model is now expanding into Newark \u2013 PROVIDED BY HOPEWORKS\n<\/p>\n
\u2013 Anna Paulson, president and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia<\/a><\/p>\n
\n![\"Philadelphia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Paulson_roundtable.jpg\"\/)
![\"Philadelphia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Paulson_roundtable.jpg\")
\u201cA lot of what we do is analyze data, look at numbers, understand the latest economic trends. But there are real people and real businesses and real communities behind those numbers,\u201d said Philadelphia Fed President and CEO Anna Paulson, in white blazer, about the importance of in-person visits. \u2013 PROVIDED BY FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF PHILADELPHIA\n<\/p>\n
\u2013 Anna Paulson<\/p>\n
\n![\"Philadelphia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Paulson_Renna.jpg\"\/)
![\"Philadelphia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Paulson_Renna.jpg\")
From left: Philadelphia Fed President and CEO Anna Paulson shared her economic outlook and joined Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey Christina Renna for a Q&A session at the chamber May 29. \u2013 PROVIDED BY FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF PHILADELPHIA\n<\/p>\n![\"Federal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-100000-Bill.jpg\"\/)
![\"Federal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-100000-Bill.jpg\")
<\/a>\u2013 PROVIDED BY FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF PHILADELPHIA\n<\/p>\n
\u2013 Anna Paulson<\/p>\n