Solid Job Growth in June
The U.S. labor market continued to show resilience in June, with steady job gains led…
Solid Job Growth in June
The U.S. labor market continued to show resilience in June, with steady job gains led by state/local government and health care sectors. The unemployment rate edged down to 4.1%, signaling ongoing strength in hiring despite persistent economic uncertainty. However, there were some indications that the headline number overstated the health of the labor market, including…
Two or More Story Home Starts Rebound in 2024
Over half of new single-family homes built in 2024 were two or more stories, according the recent release of the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC). After declining in 2023, the share of homes started with two or more stories increased again in 2024, continuing the upward trend in place since 2020. Nationwide, the share…
May Private Residential Construction Spending Dips
Private residential construction spending fell by 0.5% in May, marking the fifth straight month of decreases. This drop was primarily driven by reduced spending on single-family construction. Compared to a year ago, total spending was down 6.7%, as the housing sector continues to navigate the economic uncertainty stemming from ongoing tariff concerns and elevated mortgage…
Flat Job Openings for Construction
The count of open, unfilled positions in the construction industry held steady amid a slowdown for housing, per the May Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The number of open jobs for the overall economy increased slightly from 7.40 million in April to 7.77 million in May. This is smaller than…
2024 New Single-Family Starts by Census Division
Despite persistently high mortgage rates, elevated financing costs for builders, and a shortage of buildable lots, single-family starts rebounded in 2024, following two straight years of declines. According to the National Association of Home Builders’ analysis of the 2024 Survey of Construction (SOC), a total of 1,009,315 new single-family units started construction nationwide. This is…
2025 First Quarter State-Level GDP Data
Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in ten states in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the last quarter of 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Thirty-nine states reported real GDP declines, while the District of Columbia and Delaware reported no change during this time. The percent change in real…
State and Local Property Tax Revenue Grows in the First Quarter
In the first quarter of 2025, state and local governments experienced an increase in property tax revenue growth. On a seasonally adjusted basis, state and local government property tax revenue grew 1.1% over the quarter, according to the Census Bureau’s quarterly summary of state and local tax revenue. Meanwhile, total tax revenue for state and…