04:04 PM EST, 03/03/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Policymakers have "more work to do" to bring inflation further down to the Federal Reserve's 2% target, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said Monday.

Inflation has "retreated substantially" from a mid-2022 peak, said Musalem, who is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee this year. The core personal consumption expenditures index -- the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric -- averaged 2.4% over the past three months, he said.

While near-term inflation expectations have edged up, the longer-term outlook has broadly remained stable, he said in remarks prepared for delivery at a conference in Washington, DC.

"We have more work to do to achieve price stability," he said.

Following 100 basis points of interest rate cuts in the fall of 2024, the Fed's monetary policy is "meaningfully less restrictive than it was seven months ago," Musalem said.

Employment has shown signs of strengthening after softening through the first three quarters of 2024, though a recent uptick in jobless claims "bears watching," Musalem said.

"The outlook for continued solid economic growth looks good, the labor market is healthy, and financial conditions are supportive," he said. "But recent data have been weaker than expected, posing some downside risk to growth.

"I believe a patient policy approach now will help us as we seek maximum employment, price stability and a durable economic expansion."