Employers who complain about a shortage of suitable jobcandidates but have not raised wages to woo them are “whining,”according to a Federal Reserve official.

HR Dive reports that Neel Kashkaria, president of the FederalReserve Bank of Minneapolis, was not sympathetic to employers at aSioux Falls, South Dakota, Rotary Club meeting. Instead, the reportsays he told them, “If you're not raising wages, then it justsounds like whining. Are any of you planning to raise wages in thenext year or two? Or are you just complaining about you can't findworkers?”

Kashkari is a voting member of the Fed’s monetary policycommittee. He has been on the side of lower interest rates,according to a report in the Washington Examiner, having arguedthat “the relatively slow wage gains of recent months indicate thatthe economy isn’t fully healthy.”

When asked by attendees about the minimum wage, Kashkari said hehopes that shrinking unemployment will eventually force businessesto raise pay across the board as they compete for labor.

The Examiner report quotes him adding, “If you look at NorthDakota in the oil boom — if you raise wages, people respond and youcan find workers.”

But not all businesses think that way, even amid a shortage ofworkers. Even as numerous states and municipalities are moving toraise the minimum wage, in some areas,Republicans and business groups are challenging increases to theminimum wage passed by municipalities. Some have gone so far as topass state laws forbidding the passage of minimum wage laws thatorder a higher wage than the state’s minimum. According to areport in ThinkProgress, 23 states have alreadydone so.