Government Reports 85,000 Jobs Were Lost in December, More Than Expected

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(WASHINGTON, DC) -- According to the U.S. labor Department, Nonfarm payroll employment edged down (-85,000) in December, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 10.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment fell in construction, manufacturing, and wholesale trade, while temporary help services and health care added jobs.

Even though we remain at a flat rate of 10.0 percent unemployment from the prior month, a number of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires forecasted only 10,000 jobs lost in the month of December, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) chief economist, Lawrence Yun, stated at NAR's national convention in San Diego in November 2009 that his biggest fears for the U.S. real estate market in 2010 are continued high unemployment rates and inflation (see prior NAR story here).

It seems from today's unemployment numbers, some of those factors driving the lofty pace of home foreclosures in 2009 still remain in 2010.

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