Geographically Constrained Job Growth Provides Another Indication of a Sluggish Labor Market Recovery

Steady, but tepid, job growth has been a hallmark of the current economic recovery. Four years into the expansion, total nonfarm payrolls have grown at less than half the average pace of job gains experienced during all economic expansions of the last half century. A lack of geographic breadth is another indication of the labor market's lukewarm recovery.

In this latest edition of Housing Insights, Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research Group shows that job growth during the current recovery has not been as dispersed across the states as in previous expansions. By adding a geographic dimension to employment data, measures of state job growth dispersion and growth rates provide an indication of the robustness of the labor market recovery, which in turn is a key driver of healing in the housing market.

Geographically Constrained Job Growth Provides Another Indication of a Sluggish Labor Market Recovery (PDF)