Although new government data indicates that monthly job growth was sluggish among all U.S. industries, the number of mortgage jobs expanded.
In April, nonfarm payrolls
were up by a lethargic 160,000 jobs, according to data that was released on Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Employment growth slowed considerably from a month earlier, when
a downwardly revised 208,000 jobs were added to the nation’s workforce.
Growth suffered an even bigger decline compared to a year earlier, when employment increased by an upwardly revised 287,900.
Both job gains and labor force growth were down last month, according to National Association of Federal Credit Unions Chief Economist Curt Long.
“The main area of weakness was retail trade, which had its worst month of job growth since December 2014,” Long said in a written statement. “On the bright side, wage growth improved during the month.”
The economist noted that the latest reading on U.S. employment will have
little bearing on the Federal Reserve’s rate hike decision next month since policy makers have made it clear that threats abroad are a bigger concern that the domestic economy.
The latest activity left the unemployment rate at
5.0 percent, the same as in March 2016 and lower than 5.4 percent in April 2015.
Within just real estate finance, which is reported on a one-month lag, there were 297,800 people in non-bank mortgage jobs as of March.
Mortgage employment inched up from
an upwardly revised 296,900 the prior month.
Mortgage jobs also expanded from the upwardly revised 285,800
a year prior.
Included in the latest mortgage number were
218,700 “real estate credit” employees, a thousand more than in February.
Another
79,100 “mortgage and non-mortgage loan brokers” were factored into the March total, slipping from 79,200 the previous month.
Including mortgage jobs at financial institutions, Mortgage Daily estimates that total mortgage industry employment stood at 619,800 as of March 2016. The estimate was based on an analysis of the BLS data and origination share data.
Estimated mortgage jobs climbed from 617,900 a month earlier and
594,000 a year earlier.
The most-recent tally
reflected an estimated 259,000 mortgage employees at banks, 63,000 home lending positions at credit unions and the 297,800 total reported by the BLS.
