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JOB GAINS FALL SHORT Against a consensus forecast of 200K, the economy added just 74K jobs in November. This was the smallest monthly increase in jobs since January 2011. Given that several other labor market indicators showed greater strength in December, many investors were skeptical about how accurately the data reflects the strength of the labor market. For one thing, bad weather likely was a factor in the shortfall, as the construction sector was particularly weak. Upward revisions to the November data also partly offset the December results, leaving average gains of about 160K over the last two months. Bottom line, though, the report fell short of expectations, causing mortgage rates to move lower after the news. In another twist, the Unemployment Rate unexpectedly declined from 7.0% to 6.7%, the lowest level since October 2008. Looking below the surface, reported job gains accounted for just 0.1% of the decline, while a large group of people leaving the labor force was responsible for the remaining 0.2% decline. While the headline Employment report is based on data collected from just large employers, the Unemployment Rate is derived from a separate survey of individual households. According to this survey, there were job gains of about 150K in December, while roughly 350K people were no longer seeking work and thus were removed from the labor force. Since the Unemployment Rate is simply the number people in the labor force seeking work divided by the total labor force, it counts equally whether a person stops seeking work by finding a job, giving up on the job search, or retiring.
WEEK AHEAD |
Posts Tagged ‘federal program’
Rates at 2014 Lows – Mortgage Time
January 28, 2014Calling All First Time Home Buyers!
December 16, 2009For all our first time home buyers out there, you SHOULD be aware of the following federal program that will make buying your first home much more affordable.
It is called the MCC (Alameda County Mortgage Credit Certificate). You can find out about the details of this program at the website of Alameda County (http://www.acgov.org/cda/mcc_program/).
I can explain in more detail how that would affect the purchase process. Just come and see me in my office at Caldecott Properties, 5251 Broad way, Oakland, CA 94618.
Looking forward to assisting you then.
Antoine E. Pirson, MBA
Broker and Investment Advisor
Caldecott Properties
Office: (510) 594 2400
www.investmentpropertyfirst.com
fax:(510) 594 2424