Jobs Loss Continues to Slow
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One of the concerns related to the housing market is that of employment. When people are losing their jobs, it is increasingly difficult to make current mortgage payments, much less buy a home. So the news that job cuts have slowed is welcome news on a number of fronts. CNN Money reports on the latest jobs loss data:
Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported that 45,094 job cuts were announced in December, 10% less than in November’s 50,349 cuts. It was the lowest total since December 2007, when 44,416 cuts were announced.
In November, unemployment fell rather unexpectedly, showing great improvement in the jobs market picture, and providing a backdrop for the national unemployment rate to drop back down to 10%. However, the same downward trend is not expected to continue for December. Instead, many expect that the unemployment rate will edge a bit higher, to 10.1%.
In any case, this remains solid evidence that the jobs market could be getting better. At the very least, the employment situation is stabilizing. This is good news as housing data, including construction spending and home sales, continues to disappoint. The housing market is in a precarious position, and the fact that the home buyer tax credit has been extended and expanded doesn’t seem to be doing the kinds of good that many had hoped. There is some speculation in some circles that the circles that most of those home buyers have already bought, and that the home buyer tax credit is not particularly needful right now.
Another issue for the housing market is that this time of year is general sluggish. Winter sees slower home sales, as people are not terribly interested in buying right now. Plus, with the current economic state of things, would-be buyers are a bit reluctant to go out on a limb. Especially since many mortgage lenders have tightened lending requirements and are being extraordinarily picky about whom they will lend money to.
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[...] extra seasonal help, the fact remains that the latest ADP payrolls data, just released, shows that job loss is slowing. While the unemployment rate remains high, the pace of job losses has been slowing, and there are [...]
[...] Jobs Loss Continues to Slow Image via Wikipedia One of the concerns related to the housing market is that of employment. When people are losing their jobs, it is increasingly difficult to make current mortgage payments, much less buy a home. So the news that job cuts have slowed is welcome news on a number of fronts. CNN Money reports on [...] [...]