Mortgage banking firms employed 245,800 full-timers as of the end of November, the worst reading in 10 months, according to figures compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mortgage brokerage firms — listed separately in the BLS tracking system — employed 89,100 workers, a loss of 900 positions from October. A year ago, the broker segment had 92,000 full-timers. The seasonally adjusted figures, which trail the national employment numbers by a month, portend uneasiness ahead for ...