Now, it's more like "Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!"
Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke in a recent speech (SPEECH TEXT HERE) discussed the central bank's attempts to get better community-level economic information. Duke noted that, "One of the lessons to be learned from the role of subprime lending in the recent crisis is that it is equally important to pay attention to underlying trends in segments of the economy, such as low- to moderate-income communities or small businesses."
She went on to discuss what's dubbed the Fed's "Community Data Initiative" that's a "systematic approach to gathering and disseminating on-the-ground intelligence on current conditions and emerging challenges facing low- and moderate-income communities."
She noted results from a test project by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco -- which oversees Western states including California ...
Leaders from banks, nonprofits, community-based organizations, foundations, local government, and the private sector are asked about the conditions and trends affecting low-income households. The lack of jobs was the dominant theme in the first year of data collection, with the majority of respondents identifying unemployment as the primary cause of new distress in the housing sector as increasing numbers of residents struggled to make mortgage or rent payments. One survey participant stated that "prolonged unemployment and underemployment are causing a huge growth in the number of low-and moderate-income individuals and communities. Unemployment is now the driving force behind most of the other crises we are facing."
|For some real estate context ...|
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