Fed's Fisher says U.S. close to full employment but not there yet

Wages remain "tame," Fisher said to reporters after a speech at the Dallas Chamber of Commerce. His address was largely focused on the Texas economy, but afterwards he said the labor market is clearly tightening.

"We are making up more ground," Fisher said on Friday following the release of data showing the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent in February. That level is close to what the Fed estimates may be the level of unemployment where wage and price increases will begin to accelerate.

“This broad trend of strengthening is what I find most encouraging," Fisher said. Wage hikes "are still pretty tame but one would expect over time," that they would increase.

Fisher is leaving his post and will attend his last Fed policy meeting later this month.

He recently proposed changes to the Federal Reserve system that would decentralize some duties to regional banks, an idea that has caught the interest of lawmakers interested in broader efforts to remake the U.S. central bank.

Fisher said it was appropriate for Congress to look at structural and governance issues, but that he was "united" with other Fed officials that Congress should not be involved in making monetary policy.

(Refiles to add dateline DALLAS and reporting credit)

(Reporting by Marice Richter, Howard Schneider in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)