Insurance Industry Employment Trends: 1990-2014 (November, 2014)

The U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) just published data as of November 2014 on detailed insurance industry employment, and the I.I.I. website contains updated multi-decade trend data in chart form. (The insurance industry/sector-specific data are not seasonally adjusted and are one month behind the national data; accordingly, the report released on January 9 provides national data for December 2014 and industry/sector-specific data for November 2014.) Data for the latest month are preliminary are often revised later, but revisions are usually small. The I.I.I. slides show employment trends for property/casualty (P/C), life/annuity, health (mainly medical expense) insurers, reinsurers, agents and brokers, claims adjusters and third-party administrators P/C, Life, Health (mainly medical expense) insurers, and Reinsurers, Agents & Brokers, Claims Adjusters, and Third-Party Administrators.

In November 2014, on a year-over-year basis, virtually every subsector of insurance industry employment was up, with many subsectors rising solidly. Even life carrier employment, which has generally trended downward, rose.

P/C carrier employment rose by 2,900, or 0.5 percent, in November 2014 vs. October 2014. This is a very strong result, particularly in light of the fact that P/C carriers do not normally add headcount to this extent in November. For example, over the preceding 24 years (1990-2013) P/C carrier employment in November vs. October rose 14 times, fell nine times and was flat once. Of the 14 increases, only one exceeded a 0.5 percent rise (0.7 percent, in November 1997) and only one tied it (in 2013). The other 11 were smaller increases. For the 12 months ending in November 2014, P/C carrier employment rose by 12,400, or 2.4 percent, to 537,700. P/C carrier employment has generally been rising for the last 12 months and is now back to where it was in August 2011.

Employment by life/annuity carriers rose in November 2014 vs. October 2014 (up 1,200, or 0.3 percent); employment in November 2014 vs. November 2013 rose (up 7,300, or 2.2 percent) to 345,400. Life/annuity carrier employment stayed in a range of 340,000, plus or minus 2,000, for all of 2013 and most of 2014, but it broke out of that corridor, on the upside, in September. In prior years it was higher--in a range of 350,000, plus or minus 2,000, for all of 2011 and the first half of 2012, when it began sinking toward the 340,000 level. Life/annuity carrier employment has not fallen for seven consecutive months (and rose in six of those months), so it possible that the long downward trend is ending, although this is too small a sample to be conclusive.

The health carrier segment has been gaining jobs quite steadily for decades. In November 2014 vs. November 2013 it rose sharply (up 26,700, or 5.6 percent) to 506,000. At least some of this growth is undoubtedly connected with the flood of health insurance applications, purchases, and claims attributable to the Affordable Care Act, and some to population growth.

The agent/broker segment gained 2,500 jobs in November 2014 vs. October 2014, up 0.4 percent. (BLS does not distinguish P/C agents from life agents, so it is hard to ascribe growth to one branch of the industry over another. However, in its strength this rise reflects the P/C carrier employment picture a little more than the life picture.) On a year-over-year basis, the segment gained 23,900 jobs in November 2014 vs. November 2013 (up 3.5 percent) to 697,800. After losing jobs in the Great Recession (from 682,100 in the first month of the recession, December 2007, to 652,900 in the first month of recovery, July 2009, and on to a trough of 640,700 in May 2010) the segment has been fairly steadily gaining jobs and passed the pre-recession peak of 684,500 reached in July 2007.

Among the smaller industry segments, reinsurance carrier employment in the U.S. was flat, at 27,600 in November 2014 vs. November 2013. Claims adjusting employment on a year-over-year basis for November 2014 fell by 900 to 50,000. Year-over-year employment in the category of third-party administration of insurance funds rose by 6,000 (+3.7 percent) to 168,500. This category has grown quite steadily for over two decades, though not as fast as employment at medical expense insurers. It was set back slightly by the Great Recession but has generally added jobs since then.