Mortgage-related employment rose slightly in May, with residential companies adding 2,600 new jobs.
However, the mortgage broker segment continued to suffer job losses: 1,600 workers left the business, some voluntarily and some not.
Overall, the mortgage sector employed 241,500 full-time workers in May, up 1% from April, according to government figures published Friday. It shed 17,300 jobs year over year. (The mortgage figures trail the national numbers by a month.)
The mortgage broker segment supported 50,200 workers in May, versus 61,000 a year earlier. The number of brokers employed peaked in April 2006 at 148,200.
Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, says lenders will focus in the second half on how to "manage and reduce capacity."
Some smaller companies may increase hiring, with an emphasis on recruiting high-performance loan officers, in an attempt to gain market share, Brinkmann says. "Of course, not everyone can increase market share at the same time," he says.
Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides numbers on broker employment, it does not segment out servicing-related jobs.
The MBA says it believes the emphasis on helping delinquent borrowers has increased servicing employment, but with late payments on the decline, hiring may not be robust.
The national employment report came in much weaker than expected.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by only 18,000 in June, the weakest reading since September and well below economists' expectations for an increase of 90,000 positions.
Unemployment rose 0.1%, to 9.2%, the highest level this year.
