Private-sector employment topped its pre-recession high—if housing-related industries are excluded.
The achievement, revealed in a study by RBC Capital Markets, shows that much of the job market is chugging along nicely. But it also underscores the outsize importance of housing to the economy and the reality that the recovery isn't likely to take off in earnest until housing kicks into a higher gear.
"Housing has massive tentacles," says RBC Chief U.S. Economist Tom Porcelli. "Low (interest) rates encourage people to buy a house and fill it up with furniture, and that creates manufacturing jobs and the cycle becomes virtuous."
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