Even though monthly headcount at mortgage brokers grew, overall staffing in real estate finance contracted. Among all industries, the data disappointed.
March saw an meager increase of
98,000 in U.S. nonfarm payroll employment, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Job growth plummeted from the previous month’s downwardly revised 219,000 positions and the upwardly revised 225,000 jobs one year previous.
While the numbers were disappointing,
National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions Chief Economist Curt Long suggested last month’s figures might not be as bad as they appear.
“The March employment report disappointed with the fewest jobs added since May of last year, but there are some caveats,” Long said in a written statement. “Weak readings in the construction and retail sectors likely owed something to Winter Storm Stella. Additionally, there was a larger than normal discrepancy between the modest gains in the payroll survey and those of the household survey and ADP estimate, which were far stronger.
“It would not be a surprise to see a strong bounce back in April, as well as upward revisions to the March figure.”
The BLS reported an unemployment rate last month of
4.5 percent — the lowest rate since it was a downwardly revised 4.4 percent in May 2007.
In just the mortgage industry, which is reported on a one-month delay, there were 331,700 non-bank jobs
as of February 2017.
Mortgage employment declined from a downwardly revised 333,100 positions a month earlier. But the sector has seen growth from the same month a year earlier, when there were just an upwardly revised 305,200 non-bank jobs.
Included in the latest figures were 239,200 jobs classified as “real estate credit,”
2,800 fewer than in January.
But “mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers”
saw a 1,400 increase to 92,500 as of February 2017.
Based on an analysis of BLS data and origination market share, Mortgage Daily estimates that total mortgage employment — including jobs at financial institutions — totaled 736,000 in February 2017. The estimate fell from a downwardly revised 739,100 a month earlier but expanded from an upwardly revised 638,900 a year earlier.
The most-recent mortgage estimated total consisted of
336,200 positions at banks, 68,000 jobs at credit unions and the 331,700 non-bank total reported by the BLS.
