The Jobs Report Surprises Again....

Daylight Savings Time is the official start of the spring real estate selling season. With the weather the mid and east coast had during February, I am sure this early rite of spring caught many by surprise. But in my experience I know that things can heat up quickly. The markets will be monitoring how busy traffic is at open houses, builder sites and more when people are able to go out and drive again in certain areas of the country.

Of course, the markets are also monitoring the jobs data closely as well. The jobs data has been so strong lately that analysts now seem to be expecting around 250,000 jobs to be added each month. In February, the numbers did not disappoint these prognosticators, as the economy added just under 300,000 jobs for the month. The unemployment rate slipped to 5.5% from 5.7%, which was also better news than forecasted.

There were some aspects of the report which were considered not as strong. For one, the rise in hourly earnings was disappointing. This is good news with a meeting of the Federal Reserve Board coming up next week. The Fed will be considering the issue of raising rates and the lack of wage inflation takes some pressure off. Of course, this is bad news for workers. Also on the weaker side was the drop in the labor force participation rate. Some are theorizing that the bad weather in February may have discouraged some from coming back into the labor force. Bottom line, the economy continues to improve. Now how about that weather west coast.....

Mike Ervin
Branch Manager/Mortgage Banker
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