Last week’s jobs report demonstrated the ongoing strength of the U.S. economy and underscored the need for the Federal Reserve to rein in its stimulus efforts, another top Fed official said Tuesday.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said that Friday’s report, which showed a healthy gain of 943,000 jobs last month, means the economy is making sufficient progress to start reducing, or tapering, the Fed’s $120 billion in monthly bond purchases. Those purchases, which began last March during the pandemic recession, are intended to lower longer-term interest rates and bolster the economy.

“It’s not clear to me that we’re really doing anything useful here,” Bullard said about the bond buys.

Bullard’s comments echo other recent calls from inside and outside the Fed that the central bank should start dialing back its ultra-low interest rate policies. Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren told the AP on Monday the tapering should begin his fall. And last week, Fed Governor Richard Clarida said the economy would likely meet the Fed’s criteria for lifting interest rates by the end of 2022, an earlier timetable than the Fed’s policymaking committee has projected.

Bullard sketched an aggressive timeline for tapering, which he thinks should start soon and conclude as early as next spring. That would put the Fed in a position to potentially lift its short-term interest rate from nearly zero, if necessary, to keep inflation from worsening.

Bullard, who is not a voting member of the Fed’s 18-person policymaking committee this year, also said that many Fed officials are underestimating the economy’s pace of improvement, which has far outpaced the recovery from the 2009-2009 recession.