Agent/Broker employment up 2.5% year-over-year in May

Data from the US Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Insurance Information Institute reveal that for May, the industry generally enjoyed employment gains

Insurance News

By Lyle Adriano

The latest data from both the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) reveal that the insurance agent/broker segment gained 19,000 jobs in May 2016 to 777,400, representing a 2.5% increase on a year-over-year basis compared to figures in May 2015.

Notably, the agent/broker sector lost 1,200 jobs in December 2015; if it were not for this one instance of loss, the sector would have enjoyed consistent employment gains for 39 consecutive months. Despite this, the agent/broker sector earned a total of 113,800 jobs since March 2013.

Information from both the Labor Department and the I.I.I. revealed that across the insurance industry, employment in the other sectors generally increased as well.

Property/Casualty sector employment rose by 6,800 in May 2016 to 520,100, which is an improvement of 1.3% more than May 2015’s results. On a month-to-month basis, the sector’s employment increased in each of the last 7 months. Although property/casualty employment fell as far as 513,300 in May 2015, it has since recovered to a state comparable to its January 2013 numbers.

Life/Annuity sector employment saw an addition of 10,200 jobs in May 2016 to 332,600—a 3.2% increase from its May 2015 numbers. The sector more or less stuck to the 340,000 range plus/minus 2,000 for all of 2013 and Q1 2014, but began seeing losses March 2014. It eventually hit the bottom of 318,500 in March 2015, but has since shown steady improvement.

The health carrier sector’s employment numbers for May 2016 vs. May 2015 show that the segment experienced a 3.9% increase year-over-year. The sector gained 20,600 in May 2016, to 542,900. Much of the sector’s employment growth was attributed to the influx of health insurance applications, purchases, and claims associated with the ACA—this has been a consistent observation by both the Labor Department and the I.I.I.

Smaller industry segments also posted increases of their own. Year-over-year employment for the reinsurance carrier sector increased in May 2016 by 100 to 24,900—0.4% higher than last year’s numbers. Independent claims-adjusting employment rose by 1,100 to 57,900, which is 1.9% more than the previous year. Employment for the “third-party administration of insurance funds” sector climbed 800 to 175,700, reflecting a 0.5% improvement from May 2015.


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