There is good news for the insurance industry overall from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
In December 2014, on a year-over-year basis, virtually every subsector of insurance industry employment was up, said Dr. Robert P. Hartwig, CPCU, of the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) with many subsectors "rising solidly." Even life carrier employment, which has generally trended downward, rose.
According to the BLS report released on Feb. 6, property and casualty (P&C) carrier employment dropped by 300 jobs, or -0.1%, in December 2014 versus November 2014, but this followed a sharp rise in November versus October (up 2,600). For the 12 months ending in December 2014, P&C carrier employment rose by 6,900, or 1.3% to 524,500. P&C carrier employment has shown a positive trend, generally rising for the last 12 months. It is now back to where it was in the fourth quarter of 2012, Hartwig says.
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As you review the report and related statistics, keep in mind that the insurance industry/sector-specific data are not seasonally adjusted and are one month behind the national data, Hartwig explained. Although the most recent report provides national data for January 2015, the industry/sector-specific data lags by one month and is for December 2014.
Agent and broker segment also gains
The agent and broker (A&B) segment added 32,600 jobs in December 2014 versus December 2013 to reach a total of 728,500, which is a gain of 4.7%. After losing jobs in the Great Recession, Hartwig notes that the segment has been fairly steadily gaining jobs and has now passed the pre-recession peak of 684,500 reached in July 2007.
There were some losses in jobs among the smaller industry segments, however. For example, reinsurance carrier employment dropped to 25,000 in December 2014 versus December 2013, a loss of 1,100 jobs. Claims adjusting employment on a year-over-year basis for December 2014 also lost 1,500 jobs for a total of 51,500.
Reflecting a steady growth trend for the last 20 years, year-over-year employment for third-party administration of insurance funds rose by 8,900, a gain of 5.3% to 176,700.
Don't overlook the big picture
But, cautions Dr. Steven Weisbart, senior vice president and chief economist for the I.I.I., these gains should be always considered in context.
"In the reports that we issue, we look at each of the subsectors of the industry rather than the just overall numbers," he said. "When you do that, you see that each of these subsectors are moving at different speeds and in some cases in different direcetions."
For example, he said, the life insurance subsector reported a small increase in December, while P&C reported a small decrease. The large jump in agent and broker employement obscured both of these findings to buoy the entire industry.
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