The mortgage industry has reduced its workforce by more than 50 percent since the housing market peak. The industry has gone from more than 500,000 employees in late 2005 to 248,000 in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That marks the lowest for the industry since August 1997, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Wells Fargo & Co. alone has eliminated nearly 2,000 home-lending jobs.
Besides the sluggish housing market, another possible reason for the shrinking number of lenders could be new licensing requirements for employees of nonbank lenders, which was part of the aftermath of the subprime crisis. The new licensing requirements has made it more costly for independent brokers and mortgage bankers to maintain their payrolls, industry insiders told The Los Angeles Times.
Source: “Mortgage Industry Workforce Plunges by More Than 50% in Five Years,” The Los Angeles Times (April 11, 2011)
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