Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of Atlanta president Raphael Bostic said he is looking for “a little more data” before supporting a reduction in interest rates, emphasising he wants to be sure the US central bank will not have to change course once it begins cutting.

“We want to be absolutely sure,” Bostic said on Tuesday in remarks to the Conference of African American Financial Professionals in Atlanta. “It would be really bad if we started cutting rates and then had to turn around and raise them again.”

He reiterated the stance he’s held since March that he’ll likely be ready to cut “by the end of the year”, but acknowledged that he’s encouraged by recent inflation readings.

Bostic’s comments follow weaker-than-expected data on the labour market that has raised worries the US central bank has waited too long to begin cutting rates. 

The July jobs report showed hiring slowed markedly and the unemployment rate rose to its highest level in nearly three years. Investors are putting greater than even odds on a half-point cut in September, according to futures markets.

Bostic noted he was “definitely concerned” by the rise in joblessness, but he added much of that increase was due to a larger supply of workers rather than a slump in demand. That is a “good problem to have”, Bostic said.

Bostic now joins a handful of other Fed policymakers who have pushed back in varying degrees against the notion they should react more aggressively.

Investors who are on edge will turn their attention next week to the Fed’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Though the conference agenda has not been made public, chair Jerome Powell is widely expected to speak and could provide more guidance on what to expect when the central bank’s rate-setting panel meets in mid-September.

The latest data on prices, meanwhile, showed continued progress on lowering inflation. US producer prices rose in July by less than forecast, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released on Tuesday.

July numbers on consumer inflation are due on Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the consumer price index to have risen 3% in the 12 months through July.

Last month, policymakers kept interest rates unchanged at a more than two-decade high, yet signaled they were closer to lowering borrowing costs. Powell said a rate cut could be appropriate as soon as the central bank’s September meeting.

  - Bloomberg