A solid improvement in the nation’s job situation placed upward pressure on interest rates. Mortgage employment, however, was stagnant.
U.S. employers across all nonfarm industries added a stunning and seasonally adjusted 321,000 jobs during November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
In October, nonfarm jobs added — which are still preliminary — numbered a revised 243,000. November 2013 jobs added totaled a revised 274,000.
Interest rates took an immediate hit, with the price of the 10-year Treasury note falling 21/32 in early trading. Bond yields rise when prices fall.
The unemployment rate was 5.8 percent last month, the same as in October and well below 7.0 percent as of November 2013.
Data for the mortgage sector, which is released on a one-month lag, indicate that there were 289,400 non-bank jobs in October.
Mortgage jobs inched up from 289,200 a month earlier. The September total was revised up from the 289,000 originally reported.
But staffing in home lending fell short of the 295,800 jobs in place as of October 2013. The year-earlier total was revised up from 284,000 originally reported.
“Real estate credit positions accounted for a preliminary 216,100 of the October 2014 mortgage total, rising from the prior month’s revised 215,500 but off from a revised 222,500 in the same month last year.
“Mortgage and nonmortgage loan brokers” slipped to 73,300 from 73,700 in September. But there was no change from the revised October 2013 number.
Using the BLS data along with origination market share data, Mortgage Daily estimates that total mortgage employment — including jobs at banks and credit unions — amounted to 684,900 employees.
