Mortgage companies shed 900 full-time employees from their payrolls in August, even though refinancing applications are now on the rise at many shops.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment in the mortgage banker/broker sector fell to 245,500 in August from 246,400 in July.
Since August 2009, the number of full-timers employed in the mortgage sector has declined by 6.4%.
The government's mortgage employment figures lag the national numbers by a month.
Although the August numbers hardly look promising, over the past two months several lenders have boosted hiring, searching for underwriters and loan processors. JPMorgan Chase, PHH Mortgage, and Loan Depot – among others – have either announced hiring plans or held job fairs in search of new employees.
Although, mortgage employment was down slightly, the overall U.S. job numbers fared poorly. The nation's economy created 64,000 private sector jobs in September, down from 93,000 in August. The national unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.6%.
The worst hemorrhaging of jobs was among state and local governments which because of budget problems are cutting their payrolls at an accelerated pace.
During the first eight months of this year, 135,000 state and local workers lost their jobs. In Friday's jobs report, 76,000 teachers, city planners and other government employee lost their jobs.
The Federal government also cut 77,000 temporary Census workers. Only, 6,000 temporary census workers remain on the federal government's payroll.
Overall, 95,000 payroll workers lost their jobs in September, compared to 57,000 in the prior month.
Mortgage Employment August
