The first month of the new year brought with it disappointing news about mortgage employment. Jobs data for other industries, however, was more optimistic.
U.S. employers in all industries
added 295,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in February, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
National jobs added soared from the previous month, when nonfarm employment expanded by 239,000. January’s total was revised down from 257,000 originally reported.
Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 222,000 in February 2014. The year-earlier number was originally reported at 175,000.
The BLS reported U.S. unemployment at 5.5 percent, down from 5.7 percent a month earlier and 6.7 percent a year earlier.
Word of the solid employment numbers sent bond yields higher, with the price of the 10-year Treasury note tumbling 23/32 in early trading.
Bond yields rise when prices fall.
In just the mortgage sector, which is reported on a one-month lag, non-bank mortgage jobs totaled 282,200 during January.
Mortgage employment tumbled from December, when the total was 288,100.
Still, lenders have bolstered their payrolls since January 2014, when there were 279,800 non-bank mortgage jobs.
January 2015’s total included 209,600 “real estate credit” jobs, falling from 212,900 the prior month and 209,700 in January 2014. The year-earlier number was originally reported at 214,000.
“Mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers” accounted for 72,600 of the latest mortgage total, fewer than the 75,200 in December 2014. But broker count has grown from 70,100 in January 2014.
The year-earlier figure was originally reported at 71,700.
Mortgage Daily’s analysis of mortgage market share statistics and BLS data indicates that the number of total mortgage jobs — including positions at banks, credit unions and non-bank lenders — was approximately 627,000 as of January 2015, tumbling from a revised 640,100 the previous month.
