Posted To: Pipeline Press

Whether it is a house, a bushel of wheat, or a share of stock---when a buyer and seller come together an item trades hands. A lower price will always benefit the buyer. Is that the case in the labor market, where buyers (employers) and sellers (employees) come together? Not necessarily, since the employee, given a low wage, will likely be less motivated to perform services. What will typically happen is employers will pay more than the base wage for a given task, and employees will often work for less than the maximum that employers will pay. Therefore the labor market is not quite like other markets. I mention this because the cost of labor in the mortgage business , whether it is for underwriters or loan agents, has always been a huge piece of the overhead pie for company owners. I have heard...(read more)