POWER ECONOMICS
The U.S. Adds More Jobs in the First Quarter
What this means for the Housing Market
At the time the survey was taken, there was a rapid spread which upended many parts of the economy. Schools were closed, and businesses were shut down forcing many working individuals and parents alike to scramble. Surprisingly, you would expect the labor market to perform poorly but new data shows that the market performed really well during the stretch. Applauding the U.S. economy and his government, the president said, “America is back to work. Our country is taking everything that covid has had to throw at us, and we’ve come back stronger. … America’s job machine is going stronger than ever.” He further said that the report proves the “extraordinary 10 | APRIL 2022
resilience and grit of the American people. And American capitalism.” In the past 12 months,, the labor market and the economy have grown so fast despite surges in the coronavirus at different time periods. Nonetheless, high inflation is countering the positive trajectory, posing a problem to many families and businesses. The president recognized these problems promising to keep trying to find solutions to address them. Meanwhile, the stock market had been strong throughout the year, only showing signs of weakness in the past few weeks as the Federal Reserve prepared to raise the interest rates. In addition to the good performance in January, the Labor Department has more than doubled its tabulations of job gains for November and December. In November last year, the economy added 647,000 jobs and in December, it added some 510,000 more. BUT WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE HOUSING INDUSTRY? More people are getting back to work and this is a good thing. In fact, the average hourly earnings increased by 23 cents in January this year bringing the wage to $31.63. This was the largest increase in the last year. But, with inflation on the rise, much of these earnings are being swept away by rising prices of goods.
“There’s all kinds of good news that suggests people are getting back to normal,” said Drew Matus, chief market strategist for MetLife Investment Management. “In the big picture, it’s a very encouraging report. People returning to the workforce is what you wanted to see, and the gains were pretty widespread across different groups. The most important thing is people want to get back to work, and they’re trying to get back to work.”
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mericans are back to work as evidenced by the addition of almost 7 million jobs over the past 12 months. In January alone, the U.S. added about 467,000 jobs amid the Omicron Variant crisis which proved that the job market is resilient and has enough momentum to pull through one of the biggest surges.
