Mortgage Employment Situation Improves, FTEs Added

Mortgage companies added 4,400 full-time employees to their payrolls in February, reversing 3,900 layoffs seen the previous month, according to the most recent jobs report. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment in the mortgage banker/broker sector rose to 254,000 in February from 249,600 in January. It is the first sign of hiring since July when the mortgage industry had a 267,300 workforce. This unexpected increase comes as industry executives are bracing for a sizable decline in loan production in 2010, compared to last year when the Federal Reserve sparked a refinancing boom. However, servicing shops are straining to keep up with demands for loan modifications and many companies have relied on temporary workers and contractors to deal with the workload. (There is a one-month lag in BLS reporting of mortgage industry employment data.) In another good sign, the construction sector shed only 15,000 jobs in March, compared to an average of 72,000 lost jobs in the prior 12 months.