NU Online News Service, Feb. 9, 12:40 p.m. EST
Total insurance-industry employment grew by over 5,000 jobs in December 2011 compared to November, but Insurance Information Institute President Robert Hartwig notes that the "big news" is not the month-to-month changes, but rather the recalibrating of current and recent industry employment.
In an analysis of the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures, Hartwig says BLS employment data comes from surveys "which are, of course, subject to estimation error." He says BLS annually "re-calibrates its assumptions to reflect more accurate data obtained in the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages—a broader-based survey—to try to keep them accurate."
In addition, Hartwig notes that roughly every four to five years, the Census Bureau sometimes reclassifies people among industries, and in this month's report, this reclassification impacted the P&C direct carrier numbers.
In last month's report on November's industry-employment figures, P&C direct employment was listed at 452,300. With the reclassification, November's figures are now 525,700. In December, P&C direct employment grew by 1,100 over the revised November figures, bringing the total to 526,800.
Reinsurers saw an identical jump of 1,100 jobs from November to December, bringing employment in that subsector to 27,300.
Agents and brokers shed 200 jobs after increasing the previous month. Agent and broker employment now stands at 646,600.
"Title and other direct" employment saw the biggest jump for the month, adding 1,300 jobs and bringing total employment to 71,500.
The industry as a whole grew by 5,300 jobs between November and December, and total insurance-industry employment now stands at 2,286,700.
The month-to-month changes in jobs in this report are still just as relevant as in previous reports, despite the recalibrations, because the adjustments were made to both November figures and December figures, Hartwig explains to NU Online News Service in an email. He adds that it would not be appropriate to compare these figures to pre-adjusted figures.
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