Lockhart, a centrist who has a vote this year on the Fed's policy setting committee, spoke after new data showed the unemployment rate dropped in December to 5.6 percent, though wage growth remained weak.

"I don't see a reason yet to accelerate my assumption of when a policy move might be appropriate," Lockart added.

The addition of another 252,000 jobs in December confirmed that U.S. growth continues. Lockhart downplayed the slight fall in wages compared to the month before as "potentially noise."

Lockhart has said he expects an initial interest rate increase would be appropriate by mid-year, though he also said on Friday he would rather err on the side of being "a little bit late" in that initial increase than risk moving before labor markets fully recover.

The fact that wages are not rising more steadily indicates there may still be slack in the labor market.

(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)