The Federal Reserve faces a real balancing act right now. Kashkari laid it out plainly: the Fed's core job—keeping inflation in check while maintaining full employment—these two aren't always pulling in the same direction.

On the bright side, he's pleased with how unemployment has been trending downward lately. That's typically what you want to see. But here's the tension: tightening monetary policy to fight inflation can cool the job market too. It's not a dial you can turn in one direction without affecting the other.

What Kashkari stressed most is the importance of watching both sides of that dual mandate closely. You can't just focus on one metric and ignore the rest. The Fed needs real-time visibility into employment figures and inflation readings to make informed moves.

One other thing worth noting—businesses across sectors keep bringing up the same issue: they need clarity on legal immigration policies. Labor supply constraints are real, and they're factoring into how companies think about growth and hiring. It's becoming part of the broader economic conversation that policymakers can't ignore.