Tag Archives: Labor Department

While recent data points to a pickup in sales activity, sales prices are down, and though mortgage rates remain at record-lows, few people are qualifying for loans. Overall, confidence in the housing market has been shaken. Add to that list the woes of agents and other professionals whose job security depends on the success of the housing market. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in the real estate subsector has risen from 6.6 percent in October 2010 to 8.3 percent in January 2011.

The nation's unemployment rate dropped to 9.0 percent in January, although employers added just 36,000 jobs to their payrolls, according to figures just released by the Department of Labor. January's rate is down from 9.4 percent in December, and is the lowest jobless reading reported by the federal government in two years. The market was expecting the drop. The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke 12,000 on Thursday in anticipation of the decline.

The unemployment rate in the United States slipped to 9.4 percent in December, as employers added 103,000 jobs to their payrolls, according to figures released by the Department of Labor Friday. That's down from a rate of 9.8 percent in November and a rate of 9.6 percent in each of the three months prior. Experts agree that job growth is vital to any meaningful improvement in the housing and mortgage markets. Any decline in the rate is certainly considered a win, although the December figures came in significantly lower than analysts were expecting.

The unemployment rate in the United States edged up to 9.8 percent in November, according to figures released by the Department of Labor Friday. The jobless rate had been 9.6 percent in each of the prior three months. The economy added just 39,000 jobs last month - far fewer than even the most pessimistic analysts were expecting. There were 15.1 million people unemployed in November. Of those, 41.9 percent have been out of work for 27 weeks or more.

Figures released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor show that private employers added 159,000 new positions to their payrolls in October - the fastest pace of job growth in the private sector since April. The government, though, shed 8,000 jobs, for net employment growth of 151,000. The gain was much larger than analysts and economists had predicted. Still, the nation's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.6 percent. It's the 15th straight month that the jobless rate has been at 9.5 percent or higher.