The Employment Situation Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated that employment growth continued at a steady pace in April. Property manager employment was higher but construction employment was lower than the preliminary levels reported last month.
Overall employment continues higher
The BLS reported that total seasonally adjusted non-farm employment increased by 177,000 jobs to 159,517,000 jobs in April, based on their survey of business establishments. This compares to the monthly average employment gain of 157,000 jobs over the last 12 months and 193,000 jobs over the last 6 months. However, last month’s employment level was revised lower in this month’s report, falling by 58,000 jobs.
The BLS household survey reported that the US unemployment rate remained at 4.2 percent. When computed to 2 decimal places, the unemployment rate rose from 4.15 percent to 4.19 percent. The household survey found that the number of employed people was 163,944,000. This is 436,000 people more than the figure reported last month. The number of unemployed people was 7,165,000, up 82,000 from last month’s reported figure.
The household survey also found that the number of people in the civilian labor force was 171,109,000, up by 518,000. The labor force participation rate rose marginally to 62.63 percent. It had been at 63.33 percent before the pandemic. Recovering that 0.70 percent decline in the labor force participation rate would bring 1.91 million more people into the workforce.
The first chart shows the recent reports on total employment based on the survey of business establishments. It shows that employment has continued to increase but that revisions to the prior month’s data have reduced the measured employment levels.
Tracking multifamily employment
The BLS reported more detailed employment information on four job categories of interest to the multifamily industry. These are employment as residential construction workers, as specialty trades within residential construction, as residential property managers and as lessors of residential buildings. As usual, some of the data was reported with a one month delay, so the latest figures for the latter two categories are for the month of March.
Residential construction employment lower
The next chart shows the history of the levels of employment since 2015 in the two construction jobs categories we track.
Employment in residential building construction in April, usually with general contractors, was reported to be down by 700 jobs. In addition, the prior month’s employment level was revised lower by 900 jobs so reported employment in this category is 1,600 jobs lower than the preliminary value reported last month. Employment in this category is now 956,300 jobs, up 1.7 percent year-over-year.
Employment in residential building trades, i.e. plumbers, electricians, etc., in April was reported to be up by 4,100 jobs from last month’s level. However, the March jobs figure was revised lower by 3,100 jobs so employment in this category is only 1,000 jobs higher than the level reported last month. Employment in residential building trades is now 2,393,100 jobs, down 0.4 percent year-over-year.
Total April employment in these two categories of residential construction jobs combined is up 0.10 percent from the revised level of the month before, but down slightly before revisions. It is up 0.15 percent year-over-year.
Property management jobs again higher
The next chart shows the history of the levels of employment since 2015 in the two property management jobs categories we track.
Employment for residential property managers in March was reported to be up by 1,200 jobs from its revised (-500 jobs) level for February to 554,300 jobs. Employment in this category is up 2.8 percent year-over-year.
Employment for lessors of residential buildings in March was reported to be up 700 jobs from its unchanged level for February at 369,400 jobs. Employment in this category is up 0.1 percent year-over-year.
Total employment in these two categories of apartment operations jobs combined was reported to be up 0.21 percent from the revised level for last month and up 1.73 percent year-over-year.
Construction trades lose ground
The final chart, below, presents the employment data in a different format. It normalizes the employment levels in each of the four jobs categories to a reading of 100 for January 2015. It also provides trend lines for the growth in each of the categories of employment based on the period from January 2015 through February 2020.
Residential building construction employment is now 4.9 percent below trend. Residential trades employment is now 6.4 percent below trend. Residential property managers employment is 0.2 percent above trend and lessors of residential buildings employment is now 6.0 percent below trend.
The numbers given in the Employment Situation report are seasonally adjusted and are subject to revision. It is common for small adjustments to be made in subsequent reports, particularly to the data for the most recent month. The current Employment Situation report can be found here.
