NU Online News Service, June 7, 1:40 p.m.EDT

While U.S.property and casualty insurer employment has been on ageneral downward trend since mid-2008, the sector has not shed jobssince January 2012, and has added jobs in both March and April,according to an Insurance Information Institute analysis of theindustry's April employment figures.

In April, P&C carriers added 800 jobs, bringing the sector'semployment up to 526,300. This comes one month after the sectoradded 2,000 jobs in March, a month that I.I.I. President RobertHartwig said is typically strong for P&C hiring.

By contrast, Hartwig notes that April is not traditionally astrong month for P&C carriers. “To put [April's] gain incontext, it is worth noting that P&C employment often falls inApril. In the 13 years starting with 2000, for example, it felleight times, rose only four times and was flat once,” Hartwig saysin his analysis.

P&C carrier employment was essentially flat in February(down by 200 jobs). The sector shed 400 jobs in January.

However, despite the monthly gain in April for P&C insurers,employment is still down by 6,000 jobs compared to April 2011.

Agents and brokers enjoyed another solid month of hiring, adding3,600 jobs in April after tacking on 400 jobs in March. Employmentfor agents and brokers is up by 11,400 compared to April 2011, andtotal employment for the sector stands at 649,600.

Reinsurers added 100 jobs in April compared to March, afteradding 100 jobs in March compared to February. Employment is up by1,700 jobs compared to April 2011.

The insurance industry as a whole added 4,900 jobs in Aprilcompared to March after adding 3,100 jobs in March.

The only sectors to show decreases were life insurers, whichlost 1,100 jobs in April, and health insurers, which also lost1,100 jobs.