The jobs report released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor shows that the nation’s labor market continues to be weak. While employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the largest gain since 2007, about 48,000 of them were temporary positions working for the Census. The unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent.

This situation has a serious impact on the housing market because people without jobs don’t buy houses, and some of the unemployed will be unable to pay their mortgages.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s quarterly survey suggests that early-stage mortgage delinquencies may have already peaked — a good sign. Nevertheless, the pool of seriously delinquent loans continues to grow.

Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft is optimistic, but he warns, “Because of foreclosure moratoria, judicial backlogs, and [modification] trial periods, many loans are languishing either in late-stage delinquency or in the foreclosure process and could add to [bank-owned] inventories in the coming year.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos