April Job Barometer Update: Modest Real Estate Job Growth in March
The Job Barometer team at the Program in Real Estate at Cornell University saw commercial real estate related job postings rise slightly in March 2010, as compared to February—from 361 to 385. This increase mirrors the latest comprehensive employment report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on April 2nd. While small, the monthly growth in job postings since September 2009 is an encouraging sign that employers anticipate at least a modest recovery (table 1).
Unfortunately, the increase in job postings is a “drop in the bucket” when compared with the number of jobs lost over the last two years. “It’s too early to say we are experiencing a sustainable recovery,” said Bart van Ark, chief economist at The Conference Board. Although an increase in job postings is a positive sign, there is still a great deal of improvement needed to call this a recovery. Included in the list of sectors yet to see significant improvement are housing and construction, two bellwethers of overall strength in the economy. Although there is some recent improvement, housing and construction related job postings are only a trickle in comparison to pre-2008 volumes.
As employers of real estate talent emerge from hibernation, they are taking a hard-line approach to managing costs more efficiently while providing better service at the property level. Jobs in accounting/control and property management reflected the strongest increase during the first quarter of 2010 (table 2). These postings reflect the fact that managing and keeping tenants is an essential part of maintaining the integrity of a portfolio during challenging economic times.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly for those searching for a job, “We are seeing activity on the recruiting front,” said Tony LoPinto, founder of Select Leaders. “Search activity is starting to happen across the board…real estate investors, wannabe funds, operators, and corporate users are all back in the hunt for talent,” he said. This news, coupled with the continued increase in commercial real estate job postings reported by the Job Barometer Team at the Program in Real Estate at Cornell University, should lead many to be cautiously optimistic that things are turning around in the industry.
The Job Barometer is a partnership between the Cornell Program in Real Estate and SelectLeaders, the leading Real Estate Job Site Network, and produces monthly updates and an annual report detailing the climate of the U.S. commercial real estate job market. The Job Barometer team comprises graduate students in the Cornell Program in Real Estate.
Cornell University’s Program in Real Estate is home to the Masters of Professional Studies in Real Estate degree, a comprehensive, graduate-level curriculum that educates the next generation of real estate industry leaders. Cornell is also home to the Cornell Real Estate Council, an extensive network of over 1,400 real estate industry leaders, as well as the annual Cornell Real Estate Conference, now entering its 28th consecutive year.
Author: Sam Bechthold, Graduate Student in the Program in Real Estate, Cornell University