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U.S. Insurance Industry Shows Employment Gains in April

Phil Gusman

Insurance-industry employment was up across most sub-sectors in April compared to March, according to an analysis of the latest U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures.

Health/medical direct insurers, life insurers and agents and brokers showed the strongest monthly gains. 

For life insurers, employment over the last year has at last reversed a long downward trend that began after 2010, according to comments by I.I.I. President Robert Hartwig. Employment reached 370,000 for life insurers during the first half of 2010 before it began falling. Over the past 12 months, employment in this sub-sector has not fallen, and showed gains in 11 of those months. Employment has recovered to 357,000 as of April, up by 14,700 compared to April 2014 and up by 1,100 compared to March. 

The health carrier segment has been increasing for decades, Hartwig says, and rose by 28,900 in April 2015 compared to April 2014, to 512,200. This sub-sector also showed the greatest monthly gains from March, adding 3,200 jobs over the month. Hartwig says, “At least some of this growth is undoubtedly connected with the flood of health-insurance applications, purchases and claims attributable to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and some to population growth, but it is important to acknowledge that this rate of growth has been characteristic of this sector for decades—long before the ACA was proposed.”

Agent/broker employment is up by 24,600 jobs in April compared to the same month a year ago, and up 1,400 jobs compared to March. This sub-sector lost jobs after the recession, bottoming out at 638,200 in September 2010. Since then, the sub-sector has recovered, passing its pre-recession peak of 684,500, Hartwig notes. Employment in this sub-sector stands at 732,200 as of April.

Employment was up for property and casualty insurers in April as well, with the sub-sector gaining 700 jobs in April compared to March, and gaining over 10,000 jobs compared to April 2015.

Third-party administrators were the only sub-sector to show job losses from March to April, shedding 1,200 jobs. Reinsurer employment was flat over the month, and was up by 200 jobs compared to April 2014.