BUSINESS WATCH:

Andrew Munoz can understand the shock for people who lost their jobs in the mortgage industry this year. The executive director of the Orange County Workforce Investment Board has watched his job placement centers fill in recent months with former workers who took the brunt of the recent falloff in the housing market.

“A lot of the positions that were with these companies were good-paying jobs, so they have their own finances to worry about,” said Munoz, whose board oversees workforce training at sites in Irvine, Westminster and Fullerton. “Their most important goal is to get a new paycheck.”

Now, Munoz — and the hundreds of people lining up at his doors — may have an easier time spreading that wealth around.

The state’s Employment Development Department, a part of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, gave the investment board a $1 million grant to train workers who have been laid off from the mortgage and finance industries.

The grant is expected to provide training or placement to about 200 workers. With brokerages across the county — including such Newport-Mesa firms as Ditech.com, Quick Loan Funding, WMC Mortgage and Express Capital Lending — having suffered job cuts this year, Munoz expects the queue to fill up quickly.

“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble finding them,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of foot traffic now.”

The most likely destination for Newport-Mesa residents seeking employment is the One-Stop Center in Irvine, which offers classes, training and job postings for anyone 18 or older with a legal right to work in California. The center holds some services on-site and also diverts people to UCI, OCC, Coastline Community College and other institutions.

Lois Wilkerson, the workforce and economic development director at the Irvine center, said she didn’t know yet how the grant money would be allocated, but welcomed any outside help.

“The thing we’re really excited about here is that we have more money to train people,” she said.

Many people who had lost mortgage jobs, Wilkerson added, sought employment again in the same field, but others opted to move to logistics, finances or other fields where their skills were readily applicable. Still, the transition wasn’t always a smooth one.

“The problem most people are facing is that they made so much money on their commissions, finding something equal is difficult,” she said.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].