Despite overall growth in the employment situation in the month of April, employment for 18- to 34-year olds slipped to 75.2% from 75.6% in December, creating the potential for drag on the housing market.
“Employment in this age group is now only slightly higher than a year ago (75.1% in April 2012). Having a job is important for household formation: just 12% of employed 25-34 year-olds live with their parents, compared with 20% of 25-34 year-olds who aren’t working,” Jed Kolko, chief economist for Trulia, stated.
Posting a meager change for March, the unemployment rate edged down to 7.5% from 7.6% in March, the Department of Labor said.
Total nonfarm payroll escalated by 165,000 jobs in April compared to the revised March gain of 138,000 positions.
“The better than expected 165,000 increase in US non-farm payrolls in April, combined with the 114,000 upward revision to the gains in the preceding two months, will go a long way towards soothing fears of another spring slowdown,” said Paul Ashworth, chief economist with Capital Economics.
Additionally, residential construction employment proved to be beneficial, up 4.1% year-over-year and up 7.5% since it bottomed out in January 2011, which is above the national employment growth of 1.6%, according to Trulia.
“However, construction employment is growing much more slowly than the units under construction, (+29% year-over-year in March) and residential construction spending (+18% year-over-year in March). Construction employment fell much less than construction activity did during the bust,” Trulia said.
Analysts with Econoday said, “Overall, the bottom line is that the labor market is not as scary as reported in March. However, it is still soft but a little better than forecast.”
bswanson@housingwire.com
