As it turns out, both of these numbers have come down quite a bit. U3 is down to 5.5% from its peak in October of 2009 at 10%. U6 stands at 11.0% which is down from its peak in December of 2009 at 17.1%.
The overall economy is always important because California is usually on the bleeding edge of these changes both positively and negatively, but as they say...all real estate is local! So, if the overall economy is getting better, that's good news but it doesn't mean you are being affected in the same way. Well, the picture in Ventura County is similar. As you can see from the graph, the unemployment rate in Ventura County as of February 2015 was 5.7% which is down from its peak in August of 2010 at 11.2%.Why am I thinking about this today? I read a report this morning on the Top Employers in each state and I was slightly surprised when I realized that the nation's largest employer is, in fact, the largest employer in 20 out of our 50 States...Wal-Mart! That's right! 20 States in the Union are the proud owners of Wal-Mart as their #1 employer.
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Fortunately, 16 states had a University or a University Hospital as their #1 employer and an additional 8 had a network of Health Systems/Hospitals as their #1 employer.
In California, the article said that the UCLA Hospital Network was the #1 employer. Locally, Ventura County is proud to say that its largest employer is our own military with over 15,000 active duty, Department of Defense employees and contractors working out of the bases in Port Hueneme and Point Mugu. Other large employers in the County are County of Ventura, Amgen, Ventura County Health Care Agency, Community Memorial Hospital, St Johns Regional Medical Center, The Oaks Shopping Mall, Los Robles Hospital, Baxter BioScience, California Lutheran University and several of the School Districts.
So, as jobs go, so do Home Values...right? Certainly makes logical sense, but is it really true? Clients selling real estate today in places like Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Westlake Village, Newbury Park, Moorpark, Simi Valley are all benefiting from a declining unemployment rate and, generally, rising home prices. Below, you will see a very impressive graph created by the people at Calculated Risk. It outlines the unemployment rates over time compared to Home Values over that same time period. It's not as clear as I would like it to be, but looking carefully, it does show that as the unemployment rate rises, values certainly begin to decline. In addition, as the unemployment rates begins to drop, sometimes right away and sometimes a few years later, home values begin to rise again. This graph is only through January of 2011, but you would certainly see similar results if the graph continued to show the declining unemployment rate and rising home values.
So, jobs, jobs and more jobs! Keep rooting on our economy and our employers so that we can all make more money so that we can buy more stuff at Wal-Mart!!!
If you or someone you know is thinking about selling or buying a home in the near future, please call me for a confidential appointment and evaluation of your own real estate goals. John Wise, jwise@2ciDirect.com, 818-391-4131.
