Mortgage Employment Expands in Q3

DALLAS — (Nov. 14, 2011) /PRNewswire/ It was the first time in five quarters that mortgage-related hirings outpaced layoffs, according to the Third-Quarter 2011 Mortgage Employment Index from MortgageDaily.com. Recruiting by JPMorgan Chase & Co. helped drive the gain.

Total layoffs between July 1 and Sept. 30 covered by MortgageDaily.com exceeded 2,500.

But hirings numbered more than 5,200, leaving a third-quarter net gain of 2,738.

Some of the growth was attributable to a spike in refinances as interest rates hovered near all-time lows. This has kept demand up for production employees such as loan originators and processors.

Elevated delinquency and foreclosure levels also kept pressure on servicers to maintain high staffing levels.

With a gain of nearly 700 jobs, Texas had the best performance of any state. The low cost of living and business-friendly environment has helped the state attract mortgage firms in droves. The Dallas area has become a Mecca for mortgage servicers.

On the other end of the spectrum was Iowa, which has been hurt by downsizing at Wells Fargo.

Unlike many of its competitors, Chase has been on a hiring binge — leaving it as the firm with the biggest gain.

MetLife Home Loans managed to increase its mortgage staffing by more than 350 employees despite the decision by its parent to put it up for sale.

In addition to Wells Fargo and Bank of America, huge layoffs have also recently been disclosed by CoreLogic. Santa Ana, Calif.-based CoreLogic reported a $107 million third-quarter loss and indicated it is laying off more than a thousand employees during the second half of this year.