Mortgage Jobs Fall Again

Employment in the mortgage industry fell by 7,300 in January as lenders continued to trim their payrolls for the sixth consecutive month.The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported March 5 that jobs in the mortgage banking/broker sector fell from 439,800 in December to 432,500 in January. Since last July, lenders have cut 25,100 full-time employees. But the layoffs and job cuts may be ending soon, since home sales remain strong and refinancing activity is increasing. The February employment report indicates that job creation in the economy continues to be anemic, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to its lowest level since July. This should give homeowners another chance to refinance at historically low mortgage rates. (The February employment report released on Friday provided mortgage sector employment data for January only. BLS instituted this one-month lag in the mortgage data when it revamped its jobs report in May.)