U.S. mortgage industry expands during 2009

The mortgage industry saw employment expand in 2009 after three years that amounted to more than 100,000 job losses, according to a fourth quarter report from MortgageDaily.com. Last year saw the creation of a net 8,321 mortgage industry jobs countrywide, a major improvement over the 36,766 net jobs lost in 2008 and the 88,817 jobs the industry shed during 2007. Nearly 31,000 mortgage professionals were hired in the country during 2009, 5,849 of which were hired during the fourth quarter, while 22,578 were laid off. Less than 3,000 mortgage employees were laid off in the fourth quarter. TRD