(Reuters) - Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans on Thursday said the U.S. economy is “not out of the woods yet,” and that despite strong economic growth and the promise of vaccines, challenges remain, including supply chain and labor market bottlenecks. “A common element in all this continues to be high uncertainty - as new variants of the COVID-19 virus are impacting health and safety across the country,” Evans said in remarks prepared to welcome participants to a career development event co-sponsored by the Sadie Collective. Evans made no specific observations about the state of the economy or his policy preferences, even as Fed officials prepare for a meeting later this month at which some policymakers hope to decide on a plan to start reducing the Fed’s support for the economy. Evans had previously said he wanted to see a few more of the monthly U.S. job reports before he could support reducing the U.S. central bank’s $120 billion in monthly bond purchases. That was before a report last week showing far-less-than-expected jobs growth in August.