A RECENT U.S. Department of Labor report puts the national unemployment rate at 5.4% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Economy at a Glance, Sept. 24, 2004). This is considerably higher than the unemployment rate between 1998 and 2000, and yet agency after agency tells me it cannot get anyone to answer ads for commercial-lines CSRs. Are agencies stuck in the "Employment Twilight Zone?"

Plenty of people are looking for work; by and large, however, they are not the employees agencies are seeking. The commercial-lines CSR position is no longer a clerical position, and anyone treating it as such could be sitting in an E&O minefield. The position requires a great deal of unique skill and knowledge. What other non-degree profession requires considerable insurance technical knowledge, a knack for details, great communication skills, an ability to deal with hard-driving salespeople and detailed knowledge of industry-specific software? Agencies cannot simply "poach" CSR candidates from other industries. For example, even if a CSR in the rental-car industry had all the right personality traits, someone still would have to train that person in insurance.

An additional hurdle agencies face is that for the last 10 years, the insurance industry's wage expense has lagged behind that of private industry as a whole. Perhaps more important, it lags far behind wage increases in finance and real estate. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, wages and salaries in finance, real estate, and insurance collectively increased 7.3% in 2003 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Cost Index, Sept. 24, 2004 ). But the increase for insurance alone was barely over half that. Maybe no one is answering agency help-wanted ads because agencies are not paying as much as their closest competitors.