Insurance Industry Adds 1,100 Jobs in January
February 6, 2012 by Jeff Jeffrey
| By Jeff Jeffrey |
| A.M. Best Company, Inc. |
The U.S. insurance industry added 1,100 jobs in January —
a mere 0.05% increase from the previous month, according to the latest
employment report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On a year-to-year basis, the industry, which currently sits at roughly 2.2
million jobs, is about 1,000 jobs ahead of where it stood in January 2011.
The figures released by BLS also included adjusted employment numbers for
December that showed the industry added 2,700 jobs between November and
December. That figure is down from the increase of 3,300 BLS had previously
reported (Best’s News Service, Jan. 6, 2011).
Nationally, the country added 243,000 jobs in January, causing the unemployment
rate to dip to 8.3%. BLS reported job growth was widespread in the private
sector, with large employment gains in professional and business services,
leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing. Government employment changed
little over the month.
Total insurance industry payrolls are reported each month on a seasonally
adjusted basis, along with the current month’s nonfarm payrolls. Separately,
data by industry segment — broken out by various insurance carrier and
noncarrier categories — are available only on an unadjusted basis for the prior
month.
The job growth the industry saw in December primarily affected health (+0.1% to
430,900 jobs); property/casualty (+1.5% to 526,800 jobs); title insurance (+2%
to 71,500 jobs); reinsurance (+2.3% to 27,300 jobs); agents/brokers (+0.2% to
646,600 jobs); and third-party administration of funds (+1.5% to 136,500 jobs).
Life insurance (-2.3% to 343,800 jobs) and claims adjusting (-2.4% to 49,500
jobs) both saw their employment figures drop off slightly.
In terms of wages, all sectors except for title insurance saw upticks in their
weekly wages on a year-to-year basis.
Life insurance weekly wages increased 4.8% to $1067.19; health 4.2% to
$1037.19; property/casualty 4.1% to $1085.06; agents/brokers 5.4% to $839.08;
claims adjusting 5.11% to $967.57; and third-party administration of claims
3.7% to $815.69. Reinsurance again saw the most dramatic increase in weekly
wages, jumping 37.4% to 1315.55%.
Marking a double-digit decline, title insurance saw its average weekly wages
fall 15.9% to $793.51.
(By Jeff Jeffrey, Washington Correspondent: jeff.jeffrey@ambest.com)
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