DALLAS, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Employers slashed more than 9,000 mortgage jobs in the third quarter, according to employment data tracked by http://www.MortgageDaily.com. Still, job losses were down more than 80 percent from last year.

From July 1 to Sept. 30, MortgageDaily.com tracked 10,131 U.S. mortgage layoffs and 996 mortgage hirings. Layoffs exceeded hirings by 9,135.

    Period                                    Net Job Change
    Q3 2008                                           -9,135
    Q2 2008(revised)                                  -4,578
    Q3 2007                                          -49,451

Hirings and layoffs tracked by MortgageDaily.com generally involved at least 50 people. The findings were based on an analysis of 38 companies that either added or eliminated employees. The report also reflected jobs lost when companies collapsed.

    California had the biggest mortgage job losses of any state.

                                 Top 5 States
    Rank                     State                    Net Job Losses
    1.                       California                       -1,914
    2.                       New Jersey                         -495
    3.                       Pennsylvania                       -266
    4.                       Illinois                           -245
    5.                       Iowa                               -190


    With a net increase of 300, Washington, D.C., saw the biggest gain.
    Residential Capital LLC had more layoffs than any other company.

                               Top 5 Companies
    Rank                     Company                  Net Job Losses
    1.                       ResCap                           -3,239
    2.                       IndyMac Bank FSB                 -3,050
    3.                       Wachovia Corp.                     -625
    4.                       Mid Atlantic Capital LLC           -600
    5.                       Carteret Mortgage Corp.            -400

Government reports indicate that mortgage employment this year has gone from 358,500 on June 30 to 349,100 as of Aug. 31 -- the most recent data available.

The organization with the biggest net job increase was HUD, which indicated it would add 300 jobs to meet growing FHA demand.

Not included in the third-quarter figures were potential layoffs from JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s acquisition of failed Washington Mutual Bank, which has more than 43,000 employees; Wachovia, which had disclosed plans to eliminate around 5,000 mortgage jobs before a battle erupted between Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. over who will take it over; or Bank of America Corp., which said it would eliminate 7,500 positions after acquiring Countrywide Financial Corp.

The full third-quarter employment analysis is available to MortgageDaily.com subscribers at: http://www.mortgagedaily.com/EmploymentByStateReport100608.asp?spcode=pr

Complete mortgage employment news coverage, including articles about the layoffs outlined in this report, is available at: http://www.mortgagedaily.com/MortgageEmployment.asp?spcode=pr

About MortgageDaily.com

Founded in 1998, MortgageDaily.com is a dominant online news source for the mortgage industry. Around one million mortgage business news pages are viewed monthly at MortgageDaily.com and its affiliate publications.

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SOURCE MortgageDaily.com