Tag Archives: Unemployment

Many in the mortgage industry were anxiously waiting to view the results of the final jobs report of 2015 to see if the Federal Reserve was on track with its rate hike in December or did they act too fast?

Forecasters expect U.S. economic growth to slow down slightly over the next four years as unemployment remains steady.

The study was conducted authored by Gary Painter, director of USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate, and doctoral candidate Jung Hyun Choi, to determine how long declines in household formation would last following a major economic shock such as a drop in employment that occurred during the recession.

With job growth continuing on a strong track, a growing number of housing economists anticipate a comeback in homeownership—particularly among young adults—in the months and years ahead. However, a recent study from Freddie Mac turned up some discouraging results to throw some cold water on economists' high hopes.

Employers nationwide added 257,000 new jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said Friday. Economists projected a payroll increase of 230,000.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its monthly Consumer Confidence Index rose to 102.9 this month from an upwardly revised 93.1 in December. According to the group, January's reading was the highest since August 2007, when the index was at 105.6.

December's job gain was close to 2014's average monthly increase, and 2014 was the best year of job growth in the United States since 1999. According to Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan, the underlying data may not be so encouraging for the housing market, however.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said Friday that the national unemployment rate was down to 5.6 percent by year-end 2014, bringing that number down to its lowest level since June 2008. Economists had expected the jobless rate would fall slightly to 5.7 percent and that non-farm payrolls would increase by 245,000.

December was the fourth consecutive month and the eighth month out of the last nine in which more than 200,000 jobs were added nationwide. The highest total of jobs added during any one month in 2014 was 297,000 in June. The year began with just 121,000 jobs added in January.

Reports from economists at CoreLogic and Wells Fargo released in December indicated they believe housing will rebound in 2015 after a disappointing 2014, and they cited improvements in the U.S. labor market as a main reason why.