Mortgage Hiring Surge

PRESS RELEASE

Mortgage Hiring Surge

DALLAS — (May 4, 2009) /PRNewswire/ Quarterly mortgage hirings shot up, according an employment analysis by MortgageDaily.com. But persistent layoffs outnumbered hirings — leaving a net job loss in the sector.

Mortgage layoffs exceeded hirings by 1,751 during the first quarter, improving from a net loss of 7,783 positions in the prior period and a 14,205 deficit a year earlier.

First-quarter mortgage layoffs totaled 10,628. Layoffs at HSBC, which shut down its consumer finance operations, exceeded 5,000 — the most of any company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was next, then Citigroup Inc. By state, Illinois saw the highest level of job cuts, followed by California and Florida.

Mortgage companies hired 8,877 people, soaring from the fourth quarter’s 925 and the first-quarter 2008’s 1,199.

Wells Fargo & Co., which led the pack in hirings, said in its earnings report that it added more than 5,000 “operations team members” during the first quarter. In its own report, Bank of America Corp. said it was in the process of adding 5,000 “fulfillment” positions, placing it prominently behind Wells.

Florida led in hirings, trailed by Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Employers are currently looking to fill around 43,600 open mortgage positions, according to data from Indeed.com.

As hiring momentum was just beginning to build, staffing agencies began increasing their recruitment of temporary mortgage employees. During December and January, MortgageDaily.com tracked more than 4,000 open contract positions.

Mortgage job data reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics was adjusted downward by the Obama administration. Under the Bush administration, total mortgage jobs reported in November were 337,600. But the new administration’s first report, released on Feb. 6, reflected a revised 284,800 for the sector.

The bureau reported that mortgage employment declined from 279,800 in December to 271,100 in February

The full first-quarter employment analysis is available to MortgageDaily.com subscribers at:
https://www.mortgagedaily.com/EmploymentByStateReport050409.asp

Complete mortgage employment news, including articles about the layoffs outlined in this report, is available at:
https://www.mortgagedaily.com/MortgageEmployment.asp

About MortgageDaily.com
Founded in 1998, https://www.mortgagedaily.com provides online mortgage news and analysis for the mortgage industry. Around 1 million news pages are viewed monthly at MortgageDaily.com and its affiliate publications.

CONTACT:
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mtgsam@aol.com
214.521.1300
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Dallas, TX 75219

Source: MortgageDaily.com