The Employment Status Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that total employment increased by 178,000 jobs in March. However, last month’s job losses were revised up to 133,000 jobs, from the 92,000 job losses initially reported. Employment levels in 3 of the 4 multifamily occupations we track are up from levels in last month’s report.
Work is getting higher
The BLS reported that adjusted total nonfarm payrolls rose by 178,000 jobs (+0.11 percent) to 158,637,000 jobs in March, based on their survey of businesses. Private employment increased by 186,000 jobs while government employment decreased by 8,000. The latest 6-month change turned positive, rising to a level of 15,000 jobs per month.
A summary of the US employment situation is shown in the first chart, below. It also shows trends for the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic periods, the latter from February 2024.
The BLS reports that the US unemployment rate has dropped to 4.3 percent. Comparing the 2 statistical areas, the unemployment rate was 4.26 percent, up from 4.44 percent the previous month. The labor force participation rate dropped to 61.88 percent. It was 63.33 percent in January 2020, before the epidemic.
The household survey found the working population to be 170,087,000. This is a decrease of 396,000 people compared to February. The number of non-military adults increased by 92,000.
The household survey found that the number of employed persons was 162,848,000. This is 64,000 fewer than the number reported in February. The number of unemployed people was 7,239,000, down 332,000 from the number reported in March. The employment-to-population ratio fell to 59.25 percent from 59.29 percent.
Following the work of many families
The BLS reported more detailed employment information on four categories of occupations of interest in the multifamily industry. These are the jobs to work as residential construction workers, such as specialized housing construction jobs, such as residential property managers and residential property leasers. As usual, some data are reported with a delay of one month, so the latest figures for the last two rounds are for the month of February.
Residential construction activity remains high
The following chart shows the history of employment levels since 2017 for the two categories of construction jobs we track.
Residential construction employment in March, mostly with general contractors, was reported to have increased by 3,100 jobs from last month’s revised level (-900 jobs). Employment in this category is 931,600 jobs, down 0.42 percent year over year.
Employment in residential construction jobs, ie, plumbers, electricians, etc., in March, was reported to have increased by 11,200 jobs from the previous month’s level (-2,100 jobs). Employment in residential construction is now 2,369,000 jobs, down 1.06 percent over the year.
August employment totals in these two categories of residential construction activity combined rose 0.44 percent from last month’s revised level. It was down 0.88 percent year-on-year.
Property management works in general
The following chart shows the history of employment levels since 2017 in the two areas of material management jobs we track.
Employment for residential property managers in February was reported to have risen by 3,800 jobs from its revised level (-1,700) for January to 548,700. Jobs in this category rose by 0.55 percent year-over-year.
Employment of residential construction workers in February was reported to be down 1,400 jobs from its revised level (-200 jobs) for January at 365,400 jobs. Jobs in this category fell by 1.83 percent year-over-year.
Total employment in these two types of apartment occupations combined was reported to be up 0.26 percent from last month’s revised level but down 0.41 percent year-over-year.
Many families’ work is lagging behind
The last chart, below, provides job information in a different way. It normalizes employment levels in each of the four job categories to the number 100 for January 2015. It also provides the best trends for growth in each of the job categories based on the period from January 2015 to February 2020.
Residential construction activity is now down 9.9 percent. Residential business activity is also now 9.9 percent below trend. Employment of residential property managers is less than 3.2 percent, and employment of residential construction workers is less than 8.0 percent.
The numbers provided in the Employment Situation report are adjusted seasonally and are subject to change. It is common for small changes to be made in subsequent reports, especially in the most recent month’s data. The current Employment Status Report can be found here.
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