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The number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since early April, a sign that layoffs were easing and that hiring might pick up. The American economy added 80,000 jobs in October, and job growth in the two previous months was much stronger than first thought, an encouraging sign as the nation searches for a way out of the jobs crisis. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped in July to deliver the labor market’s best performance in a year, and while the decline was slight it was enough to raise hopes that the economy is on the cusp of a recovery. A report from the Commerce Department showed that home builders broke ground on a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 628000 homes last month. That is roughly half the 1.2 million that economists equate with a healthy housing market. Several builder analysts have upgraded various public builders recently, expecting a turnaround in the sector sometime next year. Housing starts rose significantly in September, but that was largely on the back of the multi-family sector, responding to increased rental demand. Expectations for October starts are flat to lower. There were 26,000 construction jobs added in September, making this one of three highest job-creating industries last month and providing a glimmer of hope that things might be improving for this recession-ravaged occupation. In fact, as the BLS points out in the report, this is the first significant change in the industry’s employment numbers since February. That doesn’t mean we should expect a boost in new-home construction, though. Most of these jobs were for heavy and civil construction workers, meaning those who build roads and bridges. After previous recessions, housing accounted for at least 15 percent of economic growth in the United States. Since the recession officially ended in June 2009, it has contributed just 4 percent. While millions of Americans remain disheartened about their prospects for finding work in this tough labor market, the new jobs report shows a slight drop in the number of people who have given up looking. According to the data, there were 2.5 million people marginally attached to the labor force, meaning they had looked for work at some point during the previous year. One million of these qualified as being discouraged workers, the BLS term for those who decided to stop looking for work under the assumption that there was no work to be found. Needless to say, 1 million is still a lot, but it’s nearly 200,000 fewer than the same time last year. Nationally, economists surveyed by FactSet, a financial data provider, had expected a gain of 100,000 jobs. It takes a gain of about 125,000 jobs a month to keep up with population growth, more to bring down theunemployment rate. The private sector added 104,000 jobs for the month. Weekly applications for jobless benefits dropped by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the fourth decline in five weeks. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped to 396,750. That is the first time the average been below 400,000 in seven months. Those signs further ease fears of a new recession, which had loomed over the economy this past summer. Europe is wrestling with a debt crisis, however, and even if it dodges catastrophe, a recession there would be a drag on the U.S. economy.
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Hopeful Signs for Jobs and Home Construction in America
