Job numbers rise in top three foreclosure states

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Job numbers rise in top three foreclosure states
By Laurent Belsie / March 26, 2010

Nevada, Arizona, and Florida, the top three foreclosure states, all saw job numbers rise in February, the Labor Department reported.


The three US states with the highest foreclosure rates saw job numbers rise last month, a sign of a potential turnaround in their troubled housing markets.

Arizona, Florida, and Nevada all saw their payrolls jump, according to data released Friday by the US Department of Labor. For Florida, it was the first rise in employment in 26 months.

The upturn in jobs, if it can be sustained, could provide an important boost to the housing market. As more people have jobs, the more they can afford to pay an existing mortgage or take on a new one.

Consider Arizona. Hit hard when the housing boom went bust, the state lost 296,000 jobs between August 2007 and September 2009. Since then, however, employment has stabilized and has been up slightly in each of the last two months.

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http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/new-economy/2010/0326/Job-numbers-rise-in-top-three-foreclosure-states