Unemployment Rate Holds at 9.7%

The U.S. Department of Labor released new numbers Friday, and although the unemployment rate held steady, the still-elevated number of jobless Americans – 15 million – continues to be one of the biggest obstacles to recovery in both the residential and commercial real estate markets.

The administration introduced a new mortgage forbearance plan for unemployed homeowners just last week, but Treasury officials say it will be several months before the specifics are actually put in place.

Meanwhile, corporate downsizing continues to weigh heavy on commercial fundamentals, steadily driving up

vacancy rates. According to the latest analysis from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), vacancies hit 19.2 percent for retail properties by the end of last quarter, and 19.7 percent for office spaces.

Friday’s report from the Labor Department shows that employers added 162,000 jobs in March, but the unemployment rate remained flat from the previous month at 9.7 percent. The numbers got a boost from the temporary workforce, thanks to government hiring for the 2010 census. Employment in the financial sector, though, continued to decline.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), commented that overall, March showed “the largest growth in private employment in three years.”

But analysts don’t expect even a minor expansion of the workforce to be sustained, as more and more of those unemployed who had given up looking make their way back into the job market.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a CNBC interview Thursday, ahead of the labor report, “The unemployment rate is still terribly high, and it’s going to stay unacceptably high for a long period of time.”

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Posted via email from Pilar Tobias