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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 23 JOBS GROW WHILE WAGES STALL One day after announcing that unemployment claims rose for the third straight week, the Labor Department proclaimed job growth surged past its June expectations. e latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that nonfarm payroll jobs reached 222,000 last month—well past the expected gain of 180,000. e Labor Department credited increased worker hours for the surge. e average workweek increased from 34.4 to 34.5 hours per week from May to June. Employment increased in health care (up 37,000 jobs), social assistance (up 23,000), financial activities (up 17,000), and mining (up 8,000). Employment in other major industries, including construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, and government, however, showed little change over the month. According to Curt Long, Chief Economist at the National Association of Federally- Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU), while the growth in jobs is great news, "wage growth has stalled, which will add to fears that low inflation may not improve any time soon." Average hourly earnings increased four cents in June to $26.25—an uptick of just 0.2 percent. at's better than the 0.1 percent gain in May, though not by much. Year over year, the average hourly wage was up 2.5 percent in June, or 63 cents an hour. at compares to an uptick of 2.4 percent in May. In June, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 4 cents to $22.03. e latest numbers showed divisions among Fed officials over how great a concern sluggish wage growth actually is, Long said. "While we may see the Fed trimming its balance sheet later this year, another rate hike is looking less likely," he said. Also causing some consternation among economists is the unusually low unemployment picture. In May, unemployment hit a 16-year low at 4.3 percent. In June, that number crept upwards to 4.4 percent. While that could signal greater confidence in the labor market, it could also be an artificial optimism in that more people are simply looking for work. e number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was unchanged at 1.7 million in June. Long-term unemployed accounted for 24.3 percent of all unemployed. Over the year, the number of long-term unemployed was down by 322,000. SURVEY SHOWS HOMEOWNERSHIP STILL CRUCIAL TO AMERICAN DREAM Homeownership has long been considered the cornerstone of the American dream, and ValueInsured polled over 5,000 Americans in the last two years for its Modern Homebuyer Survey to assess the state of that dream—and what Americans should do to keep it alive. Millennials (70 percent) are in line with the rest of Americans (71 percent) in their desire to keep the American Dream alive. Both groups also acknowledge—at 69 percent and 68 percent, respectively—that the American Dream isn't something stagnant; it is ever-changing and must remain fluid in order to survive. And while 76 percent of millennials identify their own personal American Dream as being different from their parents, 65 percent still believe that homeowner- ship defines their version. Location of respondents didn't seem to di- minish this desire, either. Eighty percent of urban dwellers said owning a home is important to their American Dream, compared to 76 percent of suburbanites and 76 percent of respondents living in a rural area. e survey also found that "the association of homeownership with the American Dream [seems] to transcend socioeconomic borders." Seventy-six percent of Americans with a college education desire to own a home, compared to 74 percent of Americans without an education. Similarly, 84 percent of Americans with a pretax income over $100,000 want to own a home as do 71 percent of those with a pretax income under $50,000. Even Americans that rent (71 percent) or live rent free (61 percent) say that they would someday like to own a home of their own. FANNIE PORTFOLIO GROWS, DELINQUENCIES DROP Fannie Mae's monthly summary showed a compound annualized growth rate of 1.5 percent for May 2017, an increase of 0.2 percent from the 1.3 percent annual growth rate shown in April. Fannie Mae's book of business also increased at a compound annualized rate of 1.5 percent. Fannie Mae also reported that the conven- tional single-family serious delinquency rate decreased three basis points to 1.04 percent in May, from 1.07. A year prior, the overall rate was 1.38 percent. e multifamily serious delinquency rate remained unchanged. e first five months of 2016 showed 1.8 percent monthly growth year-to-date. Fannie Mae's total book of business showed a compound annual growth rate of 1.4 percent for all of 2016, which compares with a 1.8 percent compound growth rate year-to-date in 2017. Fannie Mae's gross mortgage portfolio increased temporarily in April and came back down in May to $255,721. For the full year in 2016, the total mortgage portfolio ending balance was 272,354. Fannie Mae completed 7,210 loan modifica- tions in April. The percentage of homeowners with a LTV of 0. Source: Zillow's Housing by Generation Research, "Equity Inequality: The Differing Impact of the Boom and Bust on Millennial, Gen X and Older Homeowners" STAT INSIGHT 36.7%

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