The mortgage industry looks more like a party that ended abruptly when the parents came home a day early, only to discover the children and hundreds of their friends were caught with their pants down. Every day more reports of job cuts and layoffs come to our attention.

EquiFirst, the subprime lending unit of Barclays, said yesterday that it would cut jobs, although it did say how many. Barclays bought EquiFirst from Regions Financial for $76 million in April at a lower price than first agreed to after the unit’s credit quality deteriorated. The company has about 1,400 employees, Barclays said.