Insurance Sales as an Area of Growth Within Insurance Industry

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) “Employment Situation” report released April 5, 2013 detailed shifts in employment across industries. According to the report there was a .05 percent decrease in the seasonally adjusted number of workers in the insurance industry from February 2013 – March 2013. This marks a complete deviation from the path of growth seen in the previous month. Finalized figures from BLS for February 2013 show a .01 percent increase from January 2013 – February 2013 in the number of insurance professionals.

The unemployment rate in the insurance industry has dropped to 3.7 percent in March 2013 from 3.9 percent in February 2013. InsuranceJobs.com views this as positive sign for current insurance professionals in search of work. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual Occupational Statistics Data report, which provides in depth employment and wage data by occupation, the area employing the most insurance professionals is insurance sales jobs. There are currently 336,740 insurance sales agents employed in the United States. As the leading employer of insurance professionals InsuranceJobs.com sees insurance sales as an area of growth for the industry overall. The increase in jobs for insurance sales agents may lead many insurance professionals to consider the field.

Insurance sales agents are followed in number by claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators (263,280), insurance claims and policy processing clerks (226,260), insurance underwriter jobs (91,810), and insurance auto damage appraisers (11,770).

Although insurance sales agents outnumber other insurance professionals, on average for non-executive positions, insurance underwriting is the highest paying of insurance careers. The mean hourly wage for insurance underwriters is $33.27 with a favorable mean annual wage of $69,200. The highest paid insurance underwriters are in New Jersey. New Jersey underwriters have an annual mean wage of $85,340, greatly surpassing the national average.

States with the highest mean annual salaries by occupation are as follows:

  •          Insurance Sales Agents – Rhode Island – $87,130
  •          Insurance Claims Adjusters – District of Columbia – $75,730
  •          Insurance Claims & Policy Processing Clerks – Alaska – $48,140
  •          Insurance Auto Damage Appraisers – Alabama – $74,960

All professions are distributed across the states with the highest numbers of employment in states with large populations. California, Texas, and Florida boast the highest number of insurance jobs across all insurance professions.

About Author

Bob Thomas

Bob Thomas is the resident insurance employment expert. He has over a decade of experience in insurance employment consulting.