White House says diversity will be priority in search for new Federal Reserve vice chair

The White House will make diversity a considerable priority in its search for the next vice chair of the Federal Reserve, administration Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week. 

Asked at a press conference on Thursday about the executive branch's search for a new Fed vice chair, Jean-Pierre said that "clearly filling that vacancy is something that's important to the president and we'll certainly nominate someone in the near future."

"When it comes to diversity, you've heard this from the president, you've heard this from me, you've heard this from many of us here, diversity and representation is really important to this president," she continued, adding: "We're going to look at, the president's going to look at, at a highly diverse group of world-class economists just as we did for the previous Fed nominations, so we're going to continue that process."

The press secretary further remarked on "how diverse the president's cabinet has been," claiming that "the cabinet is majority people of color for the first time in history."

"The cabinet is majority female for the first time in history," she said. "A majority of White House senior staff identity is female. 40% of White House senior staff identify as part of the racially diverse communities, and a record seven assistants to the president are openly LGBTQ-plus."