US insurance job counts up 23k in Q2 on high times for brokers & agents
Employment in the broad US insurance industry may have risen by more than 8000 in July, making up for a downward revision in prior month data now suggesting a pull back in the red hot agency and brokerages segment.
The 8300 July gain would push the YTD increase in sector employment to 28,900 despite a downward revision in the June data from a 3200 gain to a 700 job decline, a monthly dataset from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed.
Most of the year-to-date gains are still packed into the second quarter, despite the June blip, with agencies and brokerages along with life and health carriers accounting for the lion's share of the gains.
Agencies and brokerages added 9000 jobs in Q2, 40% of the total net gain for the quarter, despite a 2600 job pull-back in June. ON unrelenting gains throughout the pandemic, the sub-segment accounts for neighbourhood 32% of total insurance segment employment, an all-time high first hit nearly one year ago.
Life and health carriers gained 5500 jobs in the second quarter, nearly a quarter of the broader industry's total Q2 gain. But the segment has only begun to scratch back pandemic-era losses after bottoming out in March 2022 and remains 5.1% off its pre-pandemic peak.
Recent gains for direct P&C carriers are more modest, but are also building on what is already a long-term high level. Employment in the sub-sector is up 1800 or 0.3% in the second quarter.
Employment in direct title carriers stabilised for a third consecutive month after long-lasting job cuts. Jobs in the segment remain down 9.6% year on year.
Claims adjusters rebounded even better from a streak of job losses. A 1400 Q2 gain cut the annual decline to 4.5% versus double digit declines seen as recently as late 2022.
For the broader US economy, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 187,000 in the July initial estimate, holding the unemployment little changed at 3.5%. Job gains were said to have occurred in health care, social assistance, financial activities, and wholesale trade.
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