Property and casualty carrier employment climbed in February,but only enough to offset a downward revision of January’s numbers,according to an analysis of the latest U.S. Labor Department Bureauof Labor Statistics figures.

Robert Hartwig, Insurance Information Institute President,says in his analysis of the figures that the January 2013 P&Ccarrier employment figure was originally 521,600, but was reviseddown to 520,600, “so the February number can be seen either as again from a revised 520,600, or as a retention of thepreviously-reported level.”

Hartwig says drawing longer-term conclusions from the Februarydata is challenging, as interpretations differ depending on theperiod examined. “For example,” Hartwig explains, “for the 12months ending in February 2013, P&C-carrier employment rose by6,000 (up 1.2 percent). In contrast, for the 24 months ending inFebruary 2013, P&C carrier employment dropped by 13,400 (from535,000, down 2.5 percent).”

He notes that technology and productivity have affected carrieremployment over the years, enabling carriers to do more work withfewer people.

Overall, says Hartwig, P&C carrier employment is currentlyabout where it was in early Spring 1993.

Agents and brokers lost 1,000 jobs in February compared toJanuary, which Hartwig says is “somewhat unusual.” He explains,“[I]n the 24 Februarys starting in 1990...agent/broker employmentgrew 16 times, was flat once and fell seven times.”

He notes that agent/broker employment has been roughly flat forthe last five months, after rising for the most part since August2010. Compared to February 2012, agent/broker employment is up by8,300 jobs.

Overall, the insurance industry added 300 jobs in Februarycompared to January, with total employment standing at 2,347,700.P&C carriers and third-party administration showed the largestgains at 1,000 jobs each (although, as noted earlier, the P&Ccarrier gain offsets January’s downward revision).

Life direct companies saw the largest monthly employment drop,shedding 1,300 jobs, followed by agents and brokers (down by 1,000)and claims adjusters (down by 900).