As the outlook for the U.S. housing market improves, bank workers hired to handle troubled borrowers are being laid off in large quantitates. Wells Fargo & Co., announced this week that it will be terminating the jobs of 2,300 workers who had formerly processed refinance applications; following an earlier announcement from JPMorgan Chase & Co., that it plans to discharge 3,000 mortgage jobs. The banks have cited a change in demand for the layoffs. Whereas refinance loans made up 70% of home lending at Wells Fargo in the beginning of 2013, that number has since fallen to around 50% and expected do fall further.
See "Banks shed thousands of jobs as housing market improves", E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2013