Many CRE developers closely watch job growth numbers for clues where to target. The more jobs, the more people with money. The more people with money, the more need for stores, services, and apartments.

The growth numbers come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one of the great public information services. However, statistical data is a process, with numbers that come in and over time get revised. The revisions are bringing an insight that metro-level job gains are slowing significantly.

"Nine of January's top 10 job creation markets returned in February but most of these metros saw annual totals continue to decline," wrote Chuck Ehmann, senior real estate economist at RealPage. "The total number of new jobs for February's top 10 was 134,200 jobs fewer than last month's combined total." For the first time since the start of the pandemic recovery, none of the top 10 markets saw a gain of more than 100,000 jobs. Only two saw between 50,000 and 99,999 job gains. The lowest of the top ten gained less than 30,000 jobs. Thirteen markets had job losses.