According to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Bureau of LaborStatistics (BLS), as of November 2014 insurance industryemployment was up year over year—good news for the industryoverall.

Dr. Robert P. Hartwig, CPCU, of the Insurance InformationInstitute (I.I.I.) noted that even life carrier employment, whichhas generally trended downward, rose in the last year. The largestgain—5.6%—was in the health carrier segment, adding 26,700 jobs forthe 12 months ended November 2014.

Property and Casualty (P&C) carriers added 2,900 new hiresin November 2014, a gain of 0.5% over October 2014. Hartwig notedthat this is “a very strong result,” particularly because P&Ccarriers normally don’t add headcount to this extent in November.I.I.I.’s data on employment trends from 1990 to 2013 shows thatemployment among P&C carriers in November versus October rose14 times, fell nine times and was flat once. Of the 14 increases,only November 1997’s increase of 0.7% was higher, and November2013’s increase of 0.5% tied the most recent figures.

P&C insurers added a total of 12,400 jobs over the 12 monthsending in November 2014. This was an increase of 2.4%, for a totalof 537,700 people working for P&C carriers. According toHartwig, P&C carrier employment generally has been rising forthe last 12 months and is now back to where it was in August2011.

Agents and brokers gain too

The BLS statistics show that insurance agents and brokers gained2,500 jobs in November 2014 versus October 2014, which is anincrease of 0.4%. BLS doesn’t distinguish P&C agents from lifeagents, Hartwig explained, so it’s difficult to say that one groupgrew more than the other. Overall, this industry segment added23,900 jobs from November 2013 to November 2014, a gain of 3.5%.According to the data, there are now 697,800 agents and brokers inthe U.S., which is greater than the pre-recession peak of 684,500reached in July 2007.

Reinsurance carrier employment in the United States remained at27,600, the same in November 2014 as in November 2013. Claimsadjusting employment fell by 900 to an even 50,000. In the categoryof third-party administration (TPAs), the number rose by 3.7% toadd 6,000 jobs for a total of 168,500.

Life/annuity carriers rose by 1,200 (0.3%) in November 2014versus October 2014, with year-over-year numbers up by 7,300(2.2%).