Tag Archives: Employment

The labor market was the strong point of the U.S. economy in the last quarter of 2015. Job gains slowed in the first month of 2016, but other areas saw growth.

The number of jobs has been rising in the last two years while GDP growth has largely been a disappointment. What does this mean for the U.S. economy?

According to the New York Fed, consumers are growing less optimistic about their financial and employment prospects.

Strong job growth in October and November was one of the main economic factors that led the Federal Reserve to raise rates in November.

According to the MiMi, current mortgages and employment are the major contributors pushing the MiMi into the stable range. Current mortgages reached 82.7 points in June, up 0.82 percent from May. Meanwhile, employment landed at 101.7 points, up 0.64 points from May.

Revised, employment gains for March and April were a combined 32,000 more than previously reported (March's job gains were revised from 85,000 up to 119,000, and April's were revised down slightly from 223,000 to 221,000). With approximately 3.01 million jobs added in the last year and the job situation seemingly recovered from a disappointing March, the housing market may be reaping the benefits later in the year, according to analysts.

April's Sentiment Index reading of 95.9 was the second-highest since 2007, second only to January 2015. Curtin said despite the large decline in the index for May, consumers' attitudes toward personal finances and spending habits have stayed positive.

The unemployment rate, which is measured from a separate household survey, ticked up slightly to 5.7 percent from December's 5.6 percent, reflecting an increase in the number of Americans looking for work. After accounting for annual adjustments to population controls, BLS said the civilian labor force rose by 703,000 in January, bringing the labor force participation rate back up to a still-low 62.9 percent.

ADP Research Institute reported the addition of 213,000 private sector jobs for the month of January on a seasonally-adjusted basis in its January 2015 National Employment Report released this week.

The latest National Association of Homebuilders/First American Leading Markets Index (NAHB/LMI) released Thursday found that markets in 63 out of 351 metropolitan areas nationwide (about 18 percent) matched or exceeded their normal levels of economic and housing activity in Q4 2014, according to an announcement from NAHB.