Revealed – what may happen to insurance industry employment in the next 12 months

A new report from The Jacobson Group and Aon has found that the insurance industry is set for slow, but steady employment growth over the next 12 months.

Jacobson and Aon’s semi-annual Insurance Labor Market study revealed that insurers plan to maintain or increase hiring as 2020 continues – 83% of companies surveyed said that they plan to maintain or increase staff during the next year.

However, that growth will not come easy, as insurers also indicated that they expect the difficulty in recruiting new employees to persist – despite industry unemployment being somewhere around 4.8%, the study noted.

Key findings of the study included:

• Forty-eight per cent (48%) of insurance companies said they plan to increase staff during the next 12 months – with the personal lines P&C segment comprising 60% of those companies with employment plans.
• Seventeen per cent (17%) are planning to decrease the number of employees – the highest total reported since January 2012, and the third highest total since 2009.
• Fifty per cent (50%) of medium-sized companies plan to add staff during the next 12 months.
• The primary reason to increase staff during the next 12 months is the anticipated increase in business volume, followed by business areas being understaffed. Forty-five per cent (45%) of companies indicated these as the primary reasons for hiring.
• Seventeen per cent (17%) of companies said that both a decrease in business volume and being overstaffed will be the primary reasons for workforce reductions during the next 12 months.
• Technology, underwriting, and analytics roles are expected to grow the most during the next 12 months.
• Compliance and analytics are the top areas where companies are looking for employees with prior experience.
• Actuarial, technology, and analytics positions are the most difficult to fill.

“The insurance industry has proven relatively stable in comparison to the overall economy and insurers continue to compete for top talent,” commented Jacobson co-CEO Gregory P. Jacobson.

“Recruiting difficulty has not eased during the pandemic and has even increased slightly for most insurance functions. Though employment will continue to grow in the next 12 months, it will be at a significantly slower pace.”