BLS: 27K Mortgage Jobs Lost in August

The mortgage industry suffered an astounding job loss of 27,200 positions in August as the subprime industry collapsed amid concerns about foreclosures and a near-dormant secondary market for many nonconforming loan types.In mid-September, National Mortgage News reported that publicly traded lenders alone had cut at least 20,000 positions during August. On Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment in the mortgage banker/broker sector fell to 428,300 positions from 455,500 in July. Revised figures show that 4,200 mortgage full-timers lost their jobs in July, not 2,100 as originally reported. The government says 76,800 jobs have been lost in the mortgage industry since the start of this year. The BLS can be found online at http://stats.bls.gov.