Agents and brokers showed strong employment gains in August for the third straight month after enduring employment losses in each of the six months prior.
According to an Insurance Information Institute analysis of the latest statistics from the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, agents and brokers added 2,100 positions in August, the most of any insurance subsector.
I.I.I. President Robert Hartwig says the agent and broker gains are typical for August, noting that “in the 24 Augusts starting in 1990, for example, agent/broker employment grew 14 times, was flat two times, and fell eight times.”
However, during the six-month employment slide in this subsector from December 2012 to May 2013, agents and brokers shed jobs in months where they had traditionally seen employment gains.
Agent and broker employment, as of Aug. 31, stood at 667,900, approaching the pre-recession peak of 679,300 set in July 2007, according to I.I.I.
Property and casualty carriers also saw employment gains in August, adding 1,000 jobs during the month after shedding 300 jobs in July. P&C carrier employment stood at 526,100 as of Aug. 31, a gain of 6,900 compared to August 2012.
In total, insurance-industry employment was up by 1,500 jobs in August. Five of the subsectors I.I.I. tracks showed gains, while four showed employment losses. Life carriers shed the most jobs during the month (1,400). Claims adjusters (900), third-party administration (600) and “title and other direct” (400) also shed jobs.
Aside from P&C carriers and agents and brokers, health insurers (1,600), “all other insurance-related activities” (500) and reinsurers (200) added positions in August.
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