Employment Numbers for March

The Bureau of Labor Statistics at BLS.gov just announced employment numbers for March. Highlights include:
• 34 states reported reduced unemployment
• 7 states reported an increase in unemployment claims
• 9 states and D.C. reported no change in unemployment numbers
• non-farm employment was up in 38 states, down in 12, top states with increases:
o Texas
o Missouri
o Florida
o North Carolina
o Oklahoma
The general consensus is that these numbers don’t represent major changes that might telegraph coming improvements in the economy. It was no surprise that California, Florida and Nevada are still showing high rates of unemployment, all three with unemployment between 11% and 13%.
It’s good news that 43 states held the line or experienced reduced unemployment claims, so there may be reason to hope that employment is leveling off and heading for better days. However, the housing and mortgage situations are keeping a large number of construction and trade workers idle.
For real estate investors, the influence of these numbers is open to debate. However, this improvement does bode well for investors with rental properties, and those who wholesale to rental property investors or bird dog for them. Many of these people going back to work have lost their homes in foreclosure. They have jobs, and they need a place to live. As they anticipate their situations are to improve, they will want to rent homes more like the ones they lost, and they’ll have the money to pay market rents that produce nice cash flows for investors.