Insurance Payrolls Fell in February
According to seasonally adjusted data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. insurance industry payrolls fell in February for the second straight month, losing 2,300 positions since January.
For the month, the sector's payrolls fell to 2.311 million from 2.314 million, which was itself adjusted downward from the Labor Department's prior January estimate of 2.315 million.
Total non-farm payrolls were down 63,000 jobs to 137.99 million, with the manufacturing, construction and retail trade sectors showing the biggest losses. The unemployment rate nonetheless fell slightly from 4.9% to 4.8%.
Annual growth in February insurance payrolls trailed the broader economy, up 0.56% since February 2007, compared with 0.63% for total non-farm payrolls.
Total insurance industry payrolls are reported on a seasonally adjusted basis, along with the current month's non-farm payrolls, the first Friday of each month. 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.
Based on the just-released January 2008 data, reinsurers saw the greatest annual growth in payrolls, up 6.59% from January 2007 to 29,100. Third-party administrators saw payrolls rise 3.98% to 130,500, while agents and brokers were up 2.05% to 678,400; health insurers were up 1.27% to 429,200; property/casualty insurers were up 0.9% to 494,100; and life insurers were up 0.8% to 357,500.
Title insurers saw their job losses widen, down 14.57% from January to 86,200. Job losses also were seen among claims adjusters, down 1.14% to 51,900, and in the "other" segment, which declined 4.29% to 49,100.
Average weekly earnings for the industry's nonsupervisory positions rose 2.65% from January 2007 to January this year, from $805.75 to $827.33. Third-party administrators saw the greatest gains, their weekly earnings up 4.57% to $770.11.
Life insurer employees' earnings were up 4.55% to $879.34, while health insurer employees were up 3.06% to $857.66 and claims adjusters' earnings were up 2.81% to $852.64.
Along with the job losses suffered by the sector, title insurer employees saw their weekly earnings fall, down 9.99% to $761.45. Employees of reinsurers also saw weekly wages fall, down 3.15% to $737.66.
The property/casualty sector remained the most highly compensated, with employees averaging $946.86 a week, up 2.92% over January 2007. Agent and broker employees were least well-compensated, at $714.99, up 3.7%
Published on March 11, 2008
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