Unemployment Rate Holds Steady, Contributing to Foreclosure for Many

Figures released Friday put July's job loss at 131,000 with the unemployment rate holding steady at 9.5 percent, though 71,000 jobs were added to the private sector.
[IMAGE] ""We have made substantial progress from the days when employment was declining by 750,000 a month,"" said Christina Romer, a White House spokesperson. ""But, today's employment report emphasizes just how important the additional jobs measures before Congress are,"" she said.

Too many Americans have learned that the loss of one's job can be directly related to the loss of one's home.

A recent report released by the ""Pennsylvania Association of Realtors"":http://www.parealtor.org/content/ (PAR) revealed job loss and unexpected

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medical bills are among the top factors contributing to home foreclosures in the state.

The survey interviewed 500 Pennsylvanians who encountered home foreclosure during the past year. The responses revealed 57 percent of the sample said their household had experienced a wage-earner's job loss in the year prior to their foreclosure. Others answered they had experienced unexpected medical bills or other unexpected bills.

""It's clear that housing market conditions are closely tied to economic conditions, especially employment,"" said Austin Jaffe, PAR's consulting economist.

Ninety-one percent of those surveyed said they attempted to contact their lender to find a solution to their pending foreclosure. Forty-eight percent said their lenders were ""not at all"" willing to work with them, 30 percent worked with their lenders but said it made no difference, and 19 percent believed it ""made things worse.""

The survey also revealed many of those surveyed did not know about the state and federal programs available to those undergoing the foreclosure process. Of the respondents, 67 percent answered they had ""never heard of"" the federal ""Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative"":http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/hafa.html (HAFA) program and 57 percent said they had never heard of the federal ""Making Home Affordable"":http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/index.html program.