Facts + Statistics: Careers and employment

 

Insurance industry employment

The insurance industry is a major U.S. employer, providing some 2.7 million jobs that encompass a wide variety of careers, including engineering and data science, human resources, public relations and financial analysts. Some jobs, such as claims adjusters, actuaries and insurance underwriters, are unique to the insurance industry. But other roles are also needed, such as art historians and drone pilots, for example. For further information consult the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, which includes these entries:​

•  Actuaries   
•  Claims adjusters appraisers examiners and investigators
•  Insurance sales agents
•  Insurance underwriters 

 

Women in insurance

Women have comprised about 61 percent of the insurance industry workforce in each year from 2007 to 2016, according to the Current Population Survey (CPS), an annual survey of business establishments in private industry conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In 2016, there were 1.7 million women employed in the insurance sector, accounting for 60.9 percent of the 2.8 million workers in the insurance industry, according to the BLS.

The percentage of women varies widely by occupation, according to the CPS. The percentage of women workers in selected insurance occupations ranges from 47 percent of insurance sales agents to 85 percent of insurance claims and policy clerks in 2016. In 2016, women accounted for 47 percent of all workers, based on households in the CPS survey.

 

Percent Of Female Workers In The U.S. Workforce And Selected Insurance Occupations, 2016

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Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey.

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Diversity in the workplace

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has information on diversity in the workplace by industry, including insurance, at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat18.htm. It has information on diversity by occupation, including insurance sales agents, claims adjusters, insurance claims and policy processing clerks, insurance underwriters and actuaries posted at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm.

 

Home workers

In 2010, 5.8 million, or 4.3 percent, of the U.S. workforce worked the majority of the week at home, an increase of about 1.6 million workers since 2000, according to an October 2012 report from the U.S. Census Bureau. The percentage of all workers who worked at least one day at home increased from 7.0 percent in 1997 to 9.5 percent in 2010. The data are reported in Home-Based Workers in the United States: 2010, which contains findings from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the American Community Survey. Key findings include:

• Metro areas in the Southeast, Southwest and West had the largest percentage of workers who worked from home.
• Although nearly half of home-based workers were self-employed, government workers saw the largest increase in home-based work over the last decade. Home-based workers increased 133 percent among state government workers and 88 percent among federal government workers.
• About one in 10 people who worked exclusively from home were 65 and older in 2010.
• About one-fourth of home-based workers were in management, business and financial occupations.
• Home-based workers in computer, engineering and science occupations increased by 69 percent between 2000 and 2010.