Mortgage Jobs Drop

Mortgage lenders reduced their payrolls by 7,500 full-time employees in November, reflecting the sharp dropoff in refinancings that started in September.The Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday show that employment in the mortgage banker/broker sector fell from 417,100 in October to 409,600 in November. The mortgage sector has been shedding jobs for three consecutive months. Meanwhile, the December jobs report disappointed many who expected to see a real boost in hiring. The BLS reported that only 1,000 new jobs were created in December, but the unemployment rate fell to 5.7%. (The December employment report provided mortgage sector employment data for November only. The BLS instituted this one-month lag when it revamped its jobs report in May.) The BLS can be found online at http://stats.bls.gov.