P&C Carrier Employment Rises for 5th Straight Month

NU Online News Service, Aug. 8, 12:29 p.m. EDT

Property and casualty insurer employment rose in June for the fifth straight month, raising hopes that carriers have reversed the downward employment trend that began in 2008.

In an analysis of the latest U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, Robert Hartwig, Insurance Information Institute president, says P&C carrier employment typically rises in June. Since 1990, which is as far back as the BLS data goes, carrier employment rose in June every year except one: 2009 during the recession.

But the strong month of June, in which 1,000 P&C carrier jobs were added, continues a positive trend that started in February, during which carriers have added 5,500 jobs. Hartwig writes in his analysis, “Evidence for a change in the employment trend? Employment changes have been positive or flat for the February-June span only seven times in the last 23 years; this happened six times in the 1990-1999 decade, and in 2012.”

Hartwig says P&C carriers will be in for a real test in two months, when August figures are released, as carrier employment tends to fall in this month compared to July. Compared to June 2011, P&C carrier employment is down by 3,800 jobs.

Agents and brokers saw another strong month of employment gains in June, adding the most amount of jobs in May (3,100) than any other insurance subsector. The month follows a gain of 3,300 in May and 3,700 in June. Hartwig says the latest employment count for agents and brokers is the highest since December 2008, but still under pre-recession numbers.

The insurance industry as a whole, including the P&C and life and health sectors, added 7,300 jobs in June, raising total employment to 2,291,700. All subsectors reported gains for the month except for “title and other direct,” which shed 400 jobs during the month.