P&C Carriers Lose Jobs in April; Agent & Broker 2013 Employment Slide Continues

Property and casualty insurers shed 1,400 jobs in April compared to March, an unusual occurrence that bucks the recent trend of employment gains for April, according to Insurance Information Institute President Robert Hartwig.

In a I.I.I. analysis of the latest U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Hartwig notes that P&C carrier employment increased in 17 of the 24 Aprils from 1990 to 2013. He also says that employment for this subsector has stayed in a range from 515,000 to 523,000 since September 2011, but adds that range is well below the employment figures from 1997 to 2005.

Hartwig contends that "technology and productivity have affected employment, enabling carriers to do more work with fewer people: P&C carrier employment is now about where it was in the late spring 1993."

Compared to April 2012, P&C carrier employment is up by 4,400 jobs.

Agents and brokers also lost jobs in April compared to March, but Hartwig says this is normal for the time of year. He notes, "In the 14 Aprils starting in 2000…agent/broker employment grew four times, was flat once, and fell nine times." He adds that agent and broker employment has generally risen since August 2010.

Still, the subsector has now shed jobs in each month going back to December 2012. Agents and brokers shed 500 jobs in March, 1,000 in February, 300 in January, and 1,200 in December. In his analyses for all of those months, Hartwig called the drops unusual compared to historical trends.

Year-over-year though, the story for agents and brokers is brighter, as they have added 4,500 jobs since April 2012. 

The insurance industry overall lost 800 jobs in April. Aside from P&C carriers and agents and brokers, claims adjusters, title and other direct and third party administrators shed jobs in the month. Reinsurers, life direct, health/medical direct and "all other insurance-related activities" added jobs.