Mortgage companies added 1,100 full-time employees to their payrolls in October as more residential brokers returned to the field.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment in the mortgage banker/broker sector rose to 247,700 in October from 246,600 in September. The October jobs figures show the number of active mortgage brokers increased by 900 from September to 59,500 in October.
The increase is likely because of a surge in refinancings that started early in the fall. In recent weeks mortgage rates began to rise, but were falling again on Friday when the new national jobs report showed the unemployment rate rising to 9.8%. (The mortgage job figures trail the national numbers by one month.)
