The number of people working in mortgage lending shot up by more than 4,000.
In its monthly employment report today, the government said that the number of people employed in mortgage positions rose was 254,000 during February.
The total increased by 4,400 from a revised 249,600 the month before.
It was the biggest increase since February 2006, when the number of mortgage jobs increased by 6,500 from the previous month.
Among lenders that contributed to February 2010’s increase were Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, which has added around 6,000 servicing jobs since the middle of last year.
During February 2009, headcount in the mortgage sector stood at a revised 271,600.
People in “real estate credit” accounted for 193,600 of February’s total, higher than 189,500 in January, according to the report, which was published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers” rose to 60,400 from 60,100.
The bureau, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor, said unemployment was unchanged in March at 9.7 percent, while nonfarm employment increased by 162,000.