Although the nation's labor markets are beginning to stir to life, mortgage banking and brokerage companies added just 900 new full-time jobs during September, according to figures released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The mortgage numbers – which lag national figures by a month – show that residential finance firms (including loan brokerages) employed 246,400 full-timers at the end of September, a slight rise from August, but a loss of 12,800 positions from the same period a year ago.
However, according to recent interviews conducted by National Mortgage News, mortgage companies of all different stripes are starting to hire again – to deal with both a swelling volume of refinancings, but increased business overall.
Jeff Freud, a principal in LoanMarket.net, a California-based web enabled loan exchange, said he hopes to hire two new account managers a month for the next several months. Also, lenders such as Total Mortgage Services of Connecticut are staffing up to handle refis, and an expansion into wholesale.
The September numbers reflect the industry prior to the foreclosure-gate crisis, an event that has forced many servicers to increase staff during October. These new hires could show up in the October mortgage employment numbers, which will be released in early December.
Meanwhile, U.S. businesses added 151,000 new workers during October, but the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.6%. Still, economists welcomed the report, which showed much stronger job gains than anticipated.
The stronger job numbers should help ease the foreclosure crisis somewhat as mortgagors return to work.
Mortgage Employment
