Among the businesses ostensibly affected by Hurricane Katrina's tear through New Orleans, Biloxi, Miss. and Gulfport, Miss. were 1,521 insurance firms, according to a recent study.

The data was part of a recent analysis conducted by Integras, the advanced analytical services division of the market research firm Claritas, Inc., in San Diego.

Integras said a breakdown of businesses by sector showed insurance, finance and real estate represented 10 percent of the businesses contained in Gulfport, Biloxi and Orleans Parish.

Integras said 49 percent of the businesses in New Orleans were in the services industry. The services industry figure was 46 percent in Biloxi and 43 percent in Gulfport.

According to the firm's research, there are 204 insurance carriers and 1,317 insurance agencies and brokerages in the two-state area studied.

The number of insurance industry employees in that territory totaled 12,640==with 2,527 working for carriers and 10,113 for agents and brokers, Integras said.

Their analysis included the fact that Orleans Parish was the location for 50 of the carriers and 231 agents and brokers.

Integras based its findings on the U.S. Postal Service's listing of the ZIP codes impacted by the hurricane as of the week of Oct. 3, 2005.

Ray Major, Integras senior vice president and general manager, said among businesses that stand to increase during the reconstruction of these areas are insurance, finance and real estate.

Classifying the data by occupation, Integra found about one-third of jobs affected in the three cities were white collar, falling within the official designation of executives and professionals.

Broken down by affected area, 34 percent of these jobs were in New Orleans, 33 percent in Gulfport and 29 percent in Biloxi. These occupations represent the areas of sales and marketing management, health, legal and social, engineers, scientists and computer professionals, educators, journalists and creative professionals.

Elsewhere, occupations involving administrative/support totaled 29 percent of the jobs impacted in New Orleans, 27 percent in Gulfport and 19 percent for Biloxi.

The analysis found that service personnel occupations==such as health care, food and beverage, personal services and protective services, account for 32 percent of the jobs lost in Biloxi, but only 19 percent in Gulfport and 18 percent in New Orleans.

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