Instant Reaction: July Jobs Report

The following is NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun’s reaction to this morning’s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report on the employment situation in July:

The economy is rolling along and jobs are being created. Though the latest monthly net new job gains of 157,000 is a bit light compared to recent past months, the one-year total is still very solid at 2.4 million. Wages are picking up at 2.7% and housing demand will therefore continue to accumulate. What has been missing in many markets has been housing supply, partly due to acute shortage of construction workers. It is welcoming to see the construction industry boosting wages at swifter rate of 3.5%. This financial incentive is no doubt helping to draw more workers into construction as evidenced by 4.4% job growth rate in construction compared to 1.6% growth rate in all jobs. With housing supply to steadily rise, the broad housing market will be in a healthier balanced state in the future.