Written By: Ingo Winzer, President of Local Market Monitor, Inc.
The government shutdown affected most of the agencies from which
we get data for our monthly commentaries, so this month we’re just providing
the basics. Next month we’ll have a full range of options available, including
a host of full-year data for 2018.
In January, total jobs were up 1.9 percent from the previous
year, the best performance since 2015 and following an uptick to 1.8 percent last
month. Through much of the last couple of years, job growth has bumped around
at the 1.6 percent level.
While the increase is encouraging in general, the effect on real
estate markets will be minor because many of the ‘extra’ jobs are in the
lowest-paid sector of the economy: hotels and restaurants. Either more Americans
are taking their vacations within the US or they’re getting more of their food
from Starbucks and sandwich shops.
Jobs were up 2.1 percent in manufacturing, 2.6 percent in
business services, 2.4 percent in healthcare, 1.5 percent in finance, and
almost flat in retail and government. Unemployment rose slightly, to 4 percent.
