Mortgage Employment Increases by 8,321 Jobs in 2009

With more than 100,000 positions eliminated in the mortgage industry from 2006 through 2008, it is clear that employment within this sector was strongly impacted by the downturn in the economy. However, as the economy begins to show signs of stabilization, mortgage employment is following suit.

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According to a recent report on PRNewswire, mortgage employment expanded in 2009, marking a vast improvement from 2008 and 2007. In its Fourth-Quarter 2009 Mortgage Employment Index, ""Mortgagedaily.com"":http://www.mortgagedaily.com/ found that mortgage employment increased by 8,321 jobs last year. The index, which reflects mortgage-related hirings and layoffs tracked by the real estate Web site, showed 30,899 job gains in 2009, which outpaced 22,578 layoffs.

Mortgage employment in 2009 varied from state-to-state, the index found. The strongest increase in mortgage-related positions was seen in Texas, where lenders added

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1,722 jobs. Illinois, though, felt the brunt of mortgage-related job cuts last year, reporting 2,797 layoffs. Factoring in both hirings and layoffs, the biggest net increase was in Texas, where mortgage employment expanded by 1,600, and the biggest decline was in Illinois where mortgage employment decreased by 2,392.

In the fourth quarter alone, mortgage hirings came in at 5,849, exceeding 2,995 layoffs. As a result, the fourth-quarter net employment was up by 2,854, Mortgagedaily.com reported. Year-over-year, fourth-quarter activity improved dramatically. In the fourth quarter of 2008, there were 925 hirings and 8,708 layoffs, marking a decrease in net employment of 7,783.

California, with 1,300 hirings, had the most notable increase in mortgage employment during the fourth quarter. As a result, the state's quarterly net employment was up by 987 jobs -- more than any other state. The biggest decrease in mortgage employment was seen in New York where there were 600 layoffs. This wave of job cuts caused New York's quarterly net employment to fall by 500 positions, representing the worst performance of any state.

The index also recorded employment gains and losses of individual companies in the fourth quarter. Bank of America's 2,500 hirings in the fourth quarter were more than any other U.S. lender, and Wells Fargo & Co. wasn't far behind. Not surprisingly, the closure of Lend America represented the biggest number of fourth-quarter layoffs.