Employers who complain about a shortage of suitable job candidates 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 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, was not sympathetic to employers at a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Rotary Club meeting. Instead, the report says he told them, “If you're not raising wages, then it just sounds like whining. Are any of you planning to raise wages in the next year or two? Or are you just complaining about you can't find workers?”

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

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

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

But not all businesses think that way, even amid a shortage of workers. Even as numerous states and municipalities are moving to raise the minimum wage, in some areas, Republicans and business groups are challenging increases to the minimum wage passed by municipalities. Some have gone so far as to pass state laws forbidding the passage of minimum wage laws that order a higher wage than the state’s minimum. According to a report in ThinkProgress, 23 states have already done so.

Instant Insights /

Fed Reserve official: Employers should raise wage, stop &lsquo;whining&rsquo;

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Fed Reserve official: Employers should raise wage, stop ‘whining’