Although employment across all U.S. industries made a healthy gain last month, monthly staffing in the home lending business moved modestly lower.
The nation’s employers preliminarily added 292,000
U.S. jobs for all of December. It was the second-strongest gain of any month last year.
A month earlier, job count was up by an upwardly revised 252,000 jobs, while an upwardly revised 329,000 jobs were added a year earlier.
The data, reported Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicated that there was no change from November 2015’s unemployment rate of 5.0 percent.
The unemployment rate has improved, however, from 5.6 percent in December 2014.
The positive news has so far had little impact on bond yields, with the price on the 10-year Treasury note off just 1/32 in early trading. Bond yields rise when bond prices fall.
In just the home-lending industry, the
BLS reported 298,600 non-bank jobs as of November. The data is reported on a one-month lag.
Mortgage jobs slipped from the previous month, when there were 298,900 non-bank jobs. October’s total was originally reported at 298,800.
But headcount in mortgage lending has expanded from a year previous, when the total was 287,800. November 2014’s figure was originally reported at
293,200 non-bank jobs.
The November 2015 mortgage total included
222,400 jobs classified as “real estate credit.” This category was off from 223,000 a month earlier but up from 213,200 a year earlier.
“Mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers” accounted for 76,200 of the latest total, rising from 75,900 in October and 74,600 in November 2014.
Including mortgage jobs at banks and credit unions, Mortgage Daily estimates that mortgage industry headcount was around 642,000 as of Nov. 30, 2015.
The total industry estimate dipped from 642,600 the prior month but has grown considerably from 577,200 a year prior.
The November 2015 mortgage industry estimate was comprised of 283,600 mortgage jobs at banks, 59,800 positions in real estate finance at credit unions and the BLS’ 298,600 non-bank mortgage jobs.
