Job Losses Ease in Q1 Mortgage Employment Index

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Jun 09, 2014, 07:00 ET

DALLAS, June 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Job contraction in the mortgage industry slowed during the first three months of 2014. Total headcount in the mortgage business is estimated at more than 800,000.

Mortgage Daily tracked a net loss of 8,145 jobs for its First-Quarter 2014 Mortgage Employment Index.

Job losses significantly slowed from the final quarter of last year but swung from a gain in the first quarter of last year.

The latest net total reflected 8,991 layoffs and 846 hirings.

Period	Layoffs	Hirings	Net
Q1 2014	8,991	846	-8,145
Q4 2013	21,878	3,081	-18,797
Q1 2013	2,930	8,059	+5,129

Using residential origination data supplied by the FDIC, banks accounted for approximately 65.5% of U.S. mortgage originations in the first quarter.

Labor Department data indicate that non-bank mortgage employment was 279,300 as of March 31.

Based on the FDIC and Labor Department data, Mortgage Daily estimates that total mortgage employment stood at roughly 809,254 people as of the end of March.

Mortgage headcount in the Mortgage Employment Index was down in excess of a thousand employees in California -- more than in any other state.

Biggest Job Losses by State

California	-1,055
Michigan	-300
South Carolina	-288
Missouri	-286
Iowa	-238

New Jersey fared best, though gains were only in the dozens.

Biggest Job Gains by State

New Jersey	63
Kansas	56
Massachusetts	35
Indiana	25
Louisiana	13

By company, Bank of America experienced the biggest decline in mortgage employees. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. each cut staffing by more than a thousand jobs.

Biggest Job Losses by Company

BofA	-2,974
Chase	-1,500
Wells Fargo	-1,267
Ocwen Financial	-844
Citigroup Inc.	-830

Several firms increased headcount by at least a hundred employees -- with PennyMac Loan Services seeing the biggest gain.

Biggest Job Gains by Company

PennyMac	144
Stonegate Mortgage	138
Freedom Mortgage	125
SLK Global	100
TruHome Solutions	56

Full Q1 2014 report is available to subscribers:

www.MortgageDaily.com/stories/MortgageEmploymentIndex060914.asp?spcode=pr

Historical Mortgage Employment Index data is at:

http://www.mortgagedaily.com/MortgageEmploymentIndex.asp?spcode=pr

Mortgage employment news:

http://www.mortgagedaily.com/MortgageEmployment.asp?spcode=pr

About Mortgage Daily

Founded in 1998 by 20-year mortgage industry veteran Sam Garcia, Mortgage Daily is a leading online source of mortgage news and mortgage statistics. Mortgage Daily also publishes the Mortgage Market Index, Mortgage Litigation Index, Mortgage Fraud Index and ranking of the biggest lenders. Visit Mortgage Daily at www.MortgageDaily.com.