FED releases report finding underwater homeowners don’t greatly impact jobless rate

By Jenifer B. McKim, Globe Staff

Falling home values has kept some troubled homeowners from moving to another state for work -- but not enough to make a major impact on the national jobless rate.

That’s the conclusion of a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which looked at the impact of the housing market on jobs. The report, produced by the bank’s New England Public Policy Center, was accompanied by a video (shown above), and it examined homeowners whose properties were “underwater,” or when their mortgage was larger than the value of the home.

“Our research shows that negative home equity does indeed reduce state-to-state migration -- but that the effect is small and has a negligible impact on the national unemployment rate,’’ the Fed said in a statement.

Jenifer B. McKim can be reached at jmckim@globe.com.