February’s Job Report Is Especially Positive For Rental Housing

The employment report for February was strong, with total non-farm employment increasing by 311,000 jobs, about 50% higher than expectations. Most people failed to notice, however, a tiny detail of the monthly employment report that was especially important: the employment-to-population ratio for adult workers with less than a high school diploma surged to 45.5%. That’s not just an increase of 1.6 percentage points from January. It’s also the highest rate ever recorded since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started reporting it at the beginning of 1992.

The increase in employment for this particular group is important for two reasons. First, it is one of the vulnerable groups whose employment prospects give an early warning for the overall job market. In other words, this jump provides especially good news for all workers.