Mortgage Employment on Rise Again

Falling interest rates forced the nation's mortgage bankers and brokers to add more workers in February, according to new employment numbers released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Mortgage-related firms added 4,200 full-time workers during the month, bringing total industry employment to 436,700. Industry employment had been falling steadily since last July, when mortgage rates hit a 40-year low. Rates have risen steadily -- with a few hiccups -- since last summer, but over the past six weeks they have fallen again. However, the yield on the 10-year Treasury spiked Friday when new BLS figures showed the nation's overall employment rate rising. If the yield on the 10-year stays where it is (around 4.1%) or moves higher, mortgage firms may begin cutting workers once again. The yield on the 10-year recently stood at 3.71%. The BLS can be found online at http://stats.bls.gov.