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46 | Th e M Rep o RT o r i g i nat i o n s e r v i c i n g a na ly t i c s s e c o n da r y M a r k e t ANALYTICS The LaTesT august employment growth lowest this year payrolls kept to their upward trend but otherwise failed to impress. e mployment growth in the United States took a sharp downturn in August, according to government figures released last month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an increase of 142,000 in U.S. payrolls, well short of the 230,000 predicted by economists. August's sudden slowdown snapped a six-month streak in which payroll growth came in at 200,000 or higher. Payroll figures for June and July were revised in the August report, bringing combined growth down by 28,000. August's unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent, matching fore- casts. The decline came largely from people leaving the labor force, bringing the labor force participation rate back down to 62.8 percent. Of the nation's unemployed population, an estimated 3 million have been jobless for 27 weeks or more. That figure dropped by 192,000 from July's tally of long- term unemployed, the Commerce Department reported. This group still accounts for nearly one-third of the unemployment population at 31.2 percent. Not included in the total un- employment figure were nearly 2.1 million people considered "marginally attached" to the workforce because they either gave up looking for work or had other priorities take precedence. Sarah Watt House, VP and economist at Wells Fargo, admitted the report was a disappointment, though she noted it conflicts with other la- bor market indicators such as the most recent ISM Manufacturing Index, which pointed to strong growth and weekly initial jobless claims, which have held fairly steady. "This is a very volatile number," she said. "The trend on a three- month moving average is still over 200,000. ... I think we'll probably see a pickup or a revision." One positive note in the August report: Average hourly earnings picked up slightly to $24.53 after more modest growth in the last few months. Also a boon for the housing market: Construction employ- ment continued to trend up with a gain of 20,000 in August, com- ing in above the monthly average of 18,000 over the last year—a positive sign for a group that continues to report a shortage of workers to boost homebuilding. cash sales share down to one-third All-cAsh trAnsActions Are still elevAted compAred to their pre- crisis norms. t he all-cash share of home sales dropped in June to its lowest level since the start of the financial crisis, CoreLogic reported last month. In a post for the company's Insights blog, senior economist Molly Boesel revealed that cash sales accounted for 33 percent of total transactions in June, down from 36.3 percent a year earlier and the lowest share since September 2008. Prior to the housing crisis, the share of cash sales averaged around 25 percent, according to Boesel. The peak for cash sales hit in January 2011, when they made up 46.2 percent of total sales activ- ity. Cash sales share has fallen on an annual basis every month since January 2013, Boesel said. Breaking the data down by state, Florida had the largest share of all-cash activity at 50.9 percent. With its relatively low home prices and attractive vaca- tion locales, the Sunshine State remains one of the biggest draws for both domestic and interna- tional investors. Also ranking high in cash sales share in June were Alabama (48.1 percent), New York (44.6 percent), Kentucky (40.1 percent), and Nevada (40 percent). Florida was also home to most of the top core-based statisti- cal areas (CBSAs) for cash sales, with Cape Coral-Fort Myers leading all others with a share of 61.2 percent. It was followed by West Palm Beach-Boca Raton- Delray Beach (60.6 percent), North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton (59.8 percent), Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall (58.7 percent), and Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach- Deerfield Beach (58.5 percent). By transaction type, REO sales claimed the largest share of cash sales at 55.3 percent, followed by resales, short sales, and new home sales.