Insurance Industry Adds 5,900 Jobs in March; Wages Jump in Most Sectors
April 6, 2015 by Thomas Harman, associate editor, BestWeek: Tom.Harman@ambest.com
WASHINGTON – The U.S. insurance industry added 5,900 jobs in March, according to figures released April 3 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The seasonally adjusted 0.23% increase for mid-March continued the industry’s growth during the past year and was higher than the adjusted growth of 0.15% shown for mid-February 2015.
Updated figures released by the BLS shows the industry added 3,800 jobs between January and February, after reaching a 10-year high by adding 11,000 jobs between December and January (Best’s News Service, March 6, 2015).
Industry employment currently stands at 2,526,500, an increase of 83,200 jobs and a growth rate of 3.4% since March 2014.
Nationwide, total nonfarm payroll employment jumped by 126,000 in March and the unemployment rate remained flat at 5.5%, according to a statement from BLS Commissioner Erica Groshen. The BLS reported job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care and retail trade. Job losses occurred in the mining industry.
The private sector has added 12.1 million jobs and has racked up 61 consecutive months of job growth, the longest recorded streak, said Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, in a statement.
For the insurance industry, total payrolls are reported monthly on a seasonally adjusted basis, along with the current month’s nonfarm payrolls. Separately, data by industry segment — broken out by various insurance carrier and non-carrier categories — are available only on an unadjusted basis for the prior month.
Between January and February, several industry sectors saw slight employment increases. Employment improved in direct life insurance (up 0.37%, to 354,800 jobs); direct health and medical insurance carriers (up 0.2%, to 509,100 jobs); direct property/casualty insurers (up 0.48% to 526,100 jobs); and insurance agencies and brokerages (up 0.12% to 727,800 jobs). Jobs in reinsurance remained flat at 24,900 jobs.
Areas in which the industry saw declines between January and February include third-party administration of insurance funds (down 0.56% to 176,100 jobs), claims adjusting (down 1.98% to 49,500 jobs); and direct title insurance and other direct insurance carriers (down 0.13% to 75,600 jobs).
On an annual basis, most insurance sectors showed job growth over February 2014, led by third-party administration of insurance funds (up 5.45%); direct health and medical insurance carriers (up 4.99%); insurance agencies and brokerages (up 4.15%); direct life insurance carriers (up 3.50%); and direct property/casualty insurers (up 2.02%). Sectors that saw decreases in the past year included claims adjusting (down 7.65%); reinsurance carriers (down 1.97%) and direct title insurance and other direct insurance carriers (down 0.66%).
Wages showed growth in nearly every sector between January and February, led by claims adjusting (up 6.66%); reinsurance carriers (up 6.64%) and insurance agencies and brokerages (up 6.46%). Wages dropped in direct title insurance and other insurance carriers by 0.96%, but wages in that area still showed a 20.37% increase from February 2014. Wages for reinsurance carriers also jumped 16.07% over February 2014.