2021 Workers' comp insurance market update

“We’re in a period now where, year after year, workplaces just seem to be getting safer,” says Jeff Eddinger, senior division executive, National Council on Compensation Insurance. (Photo: Shutterstock)

The workers’ compensation insurance market remained profitable in 2021 in spite of premium declines and such worries as sizeable COVID-19 claims.

“We’re like the nicest house in the neighbor- hood, and everybody wants to buy us,” says Pat Edwards, senior vice president of the workers’ compensation practice at Risk Placement Services, Inc. According to a new report, the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) found that 2020 private carrier net written premiums decreased from 2019 by 9.5%, down $38 billion, and that the private carrier combined ratio was 87%, with an operating gain of 23.2%.