PALO ALTO, Calif. - Federal Reserve Governor Philip Jefferson said on Friday he is just as serious about the central bank's goal of full employment as about its mandate for stable prices, but emphasized that bringing high inflation down is critical.

"I care very much about how the labor market performs because for most people in the U.S. economy, their standing in the labor market will very much determine their station in life, so that's something I'm very mindful of," Jefferson said in answer to a question at conference at the Hoover Institution.

"But I also am aware that inflation is the most insidious of social diseases, and so it's important to try to get it down," he said.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by William Mallard)