The September employment report was a bit of a surprise. Non-farm payroll employment was 263,000 at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, more than the 201,000 in August. Nonetheless, September’s drop was still an improvement over the June-through-August average loss of 323,000.

At the same time, residential construction employment fell 13,300 in September, an improvement over August’s drop of 19,600 and the 19,800 jobs lost in July.

Construction has registered the highest unemployment rate among the major sectors of the economy, with durable goods manufacturing registering the next highest unemployment rate at 13.1 percent. You can expect job losses to slow through the remainder of the year and eventually turn into job gains beginning early next year.

While it is normal for employment to lag the rest of the economy, job growth could prove to be sluggish in this recovery, putting a drag on the general economy and the housing sector, in particular.

- Courtesy of NAHB