A sneak peek at employment data from the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy gives us some cautious optimism both about our state’s recovery and the California real estate market in 2012.
The full December employment report is due on Tuesday, and the news looks good. By the numbers:
· Unemployment fell to 11.1% and has now declined two months in a row
· Non-farm jobs increased by 10,700
· An additional 18,200 jobs were added to the November total
· An additional 73,000 people are now holding jobs, according to household survey data
· More people are rejoining the labor force, which increased by 88,500 since October
According to the report:
“Job gains for the month and year were strongest in information and professional services reflecting the surging growth of technology companies, where job gains were accompanied by wage increases and continuing job openings. Gains were also recorded in construction, which is finally starting a slow recovery after the loss of more than 400,000 jobs.”
This is positive news for our industry; as we know, jobs are the most important driver of the recovery of the real estate markets. If the trends continue, we should see a nice lift in real estate transactions in 2012.
We’ll link to the full report when it comes out next week; in the meantime, you can compare numbers by taking a look at the November 2011 California Jobs Report.