Although the employment report for all industries was less than stellar, non-bank mortgage employment has expanded for nine consecutive months.
During the final month of 2016, the rate of U.S. unemployment was 4.7 percent, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The jobless rate worsened from November, when it came in at 4.6 percent. But the rate was down from December 2015, when it was 5.0 percent.
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 jobs in December 2016.
Employment growth slowed from a month earlier, when an upwardly revised 204,000 jobs were added. The increase in nonfarm employment also fell short of the downwardly revised 271,000 a year earlier.
The report indicated that the participation rate inched up to 62.7 percent last month from a downwardly revised 62.6 percent in November.
National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions Chief Economist Curt Long said in a written statement that job gains were shy of expectations but still strong, while wage growth grew from a year earlier at the fastest pace since 2009.
“Moreover, wage gains were spread broadly across industries,” Long explained. “Labor force growth has slowed, which provides further evidence that full employment has arrived, or is at least in sight. While the labor market continues to hum along, this report does not raise alarm bells for the Fed as it considers the next rate hike.”
In the mortgage industry,
which the BLS reports on a one-month lag, there were 322,100 non-bank jobs as of November. Industry staffing increased from a downwardly revised 318,100 the prior month. Mortgage jobs have expanded each month since February 2016, when the total was an upwardly revised 296,900.
Growth in the real estate lending sector was even more robust versus the upwardly revised 301,300 a year prior.
The latest home-lending number included 232,600 positions classified as “real estate credit” and 89,500 “mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers.”
Based on an analysis of BLS figures and origination
share data, Mortgage Daily estimates that total mortgage industry staffing — including jobs at financial institutions — was 672,200 in November 2016. Estimated headcount expanded from a downwardly revised 663,900 in October and a downwardly revised 627,100 in November 2015.
The latest mortgage industry estimate was comprised of
290,600 jobs at banks, 59,500 positions at credit unions and the 322,100 non-bank jobs reported by the BLS.
Despite the recent increase in staffing for real estate finance, the numbers are likely to begin declining this year as mortgage firms begin reducing their payrolls to align with the expected drop in refinance originations as a result of rising interest rates.
