Insurance agents and financial advisors mayfeel crushing pressure from changes in compensation models andinsurance companies' strategy.

Especially in the individual health insurance market, agentshave been having a hard time persuading insurers to offer salescommissions, or even to pay the commissions already earned.

In spite of all that turmoil, from the perspective of a companythat runs a job notice board for the insuranceindustry, the overall state of the U.S. insurance industry job market looksterrific.

Telephone survey of 72 insurance companies

GreatInsuranceJobs.com, the Orlando, Florida-based jobs boardcompany, recently conducted a telephone survey of 72 companies thatare active in the insurance industry. Those insurers, distributorsand plan administrators employ about 360,000 people, orabout 10 percent of all U.S. workers.

Related: 10 reasons why an insurance career is great formillennials

Roger Lear, a recruiter who co-founded GreatInsuranceJobs.com,says the results show that, in spite of all of the upheaval andangst in some parts of the insurance industry, the industry as awhole as "a lot of jobs."

10,874 open insurance jobs in February

In 2016, "almost all areas of the insurance industry increasedtheir size," Lear writes in a report on the survey findings.

The companies surveyed had 10,874 open jobs in February alone,or about one open job for every 36 employees,Lear says.

Here's a look at four highlights from Lear's report:

(Image: Bram Janssens/Hemera-Thinkstock)

1. The present looks good.

The share of participating employers that said they had currentinsurance job openings in February stood at 93 percent. That was upfrom 91 percent a year earlier, and it was the highest levelGreatInsuranceJobs.com has recorded since 2009, when the firm beganconducting the job outlook surveys.

Related: 7 ways to improve insurance industry ITrecruitment

2. The future looks good.

In February, about 37 percent of the employers surveyed expected2017 hiring to be better than 2016 hiring, and only 13 percent saidthey expected the hiring situation to be worse.

The share of participating companies that said they expected tohire 200 or more people from April through December increased to 16percent this year. That was up from 10 percent in 2016.

3. Companies need sales help.

About 21 percent of the employers said they are looking for insurance sales professionals, andthe sales professional category was the top hiring category.

Agents who see individual health commissions dwindling andannuity issuers moving away from commission-based products may notfeel much insurance industry love, but Lear says experiencedinsurance professionals are still in demand, "everywhere."

Technology might be replacing some sales jobs, but insurers facea death of experienced agents and brokers for the jobs that arestill out there, and finding good candidates for life and healthagent jobs is a major challenge, Lear says.

4. Insurance industry workers tend to have grayhair.

The average age of industry workers is 59, and oneconsulting firm predicts that about 25 percent of the workers inthe industry will retire within the next four years, Learwrites.

"A large retirement movement is under way already," Learwrites.

Related: 5 reasons to be an acturary as acareer