November 30 2010 (Chris Moore)
In October 2005, just prior to the peak of the housing boom, there were a record high 535,400 mortgage brokers, loan officers, mortgage underwriters, loan processors, and others working in the mortgage financial industry. Total mortgage industry employment today is estimated at 246,400, less than half reported at the industry’s peak.
After two quarters of industry job gains, the Third-Quarter 2010 Mortgage Employment Index from MortgageDaily.com reports that 930 jobs were lost in the third quarter of 2010.
During the quarter a total of 3,216 job losses were recorded, worse than the 2,028 job losses seen a quarter earlier, but far fewer than the 5,401 recorded last year. A total of 2,286 jobs were gained, a decline of 382 jobs from the second quarter.
Most of the jobs were lost due to Wells Fargo’s decision to close its wholesale division, Wells Fargo Financial. More than a hundred layoffs were also reported for First Mortgage Corp. and Wealthbridge Mortgage.
More layoffs occurred in California than any other state, but along with Texas, had several hundred hiring’s to counter the job losses. The states with the largest net losses were Maryland, Illinois and Oregon
North Carolina had the biggest job gains of any state with a net gain of more than 500 jobs.
Tags: mortgage industry employment, mortgage brokers, loan officers, mortgage underwriters, loan processors, mortgage industry, job losses, employment gains, layoffs