In one of the first signs that the housing slowdown is impacting the general economy, the Monster Employment Index dropped one point on much slower hiring in the housing and financial sectors. While this has been expected for a while, this is the first sign of a slowdown showing up in general economic statistics.

The index dipped to 172 last month from 173 a month earlier, Monster said, but added that this did not mark the start of a downward trend in the labor market.

“The major reason for the decline in September was based on two categories, finance and real estate, which we believe are both related to the slowdown in the housing market,” said Steve Pogorzelski, group president of Monster Worldwide, parent company of Monster, a global online careers and recruiting firm.

The housing market is slowing after years of strong growth, with investment in residential structures tumbling at the sharpest rate in more than a decade. The cooling housing market is expected to contribute to slower economic growth.

Online job availability in the real estate, rental and leasing industry slid to its lowest level since February, the Monster report showed.

Now for the politically incorrect comment of the day. We all know that one of the major employers of illegal immigrants are the builders. Will there be a much lower impact on the employment figures as illegal immigrants can not apply for unemployment and show up on the roles? And if the slowdown in building will lead to reverse immigration as jobs in the building sector disappear.

Where we live in Atlanta, there are no longer any framers or painters at new construction sites that are not hispanic. I know many of them are legal, but I also know that most are not. If the market slows down, what are they going to do? I am sure that this scenerio is also prevelent in other cities? Will this invisible population move, thus putting more inventory on the market? Or will they go to different industries?

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