U.S. P/C carrier employment began January 2016 in decline, according to a new Insurance Information Institute report. Over the last 12 months, job figures average out as essentially flat.

Direct P/C carrier employment landed at 515,000 in January, based on U.S. Labor Department Bureau of Labor Statistics cited by the I.I.I. That’s down 800 from the 515,800 jobs reported in December 2015. But the results also reflect a 400 job average increase (+0.1 percent) for the 12 month period ending in January 2016, according to a summary of the findings posted March 9 by Steven Weisbart, senior vice president and chief economist for the I.I.I., on the organization’s web site.

Weisbart noted that P/C carrier employment has been falling for the last 10 months now, with the exception of November 2014, February 2015, June 2015, November 2015 and December 2015. Those gains left the total “relatively flat,” Weisbart wrote. Even so, property/casualty insurance carrier employment continues to remain at levels last seen in October 2013, he said.

Weisbart cites other U.S. industry employment statistics in his article for January 2016. Among them:

• Agent/broker employment hit 770,000, a gain of 2.8 percent, or 21,100 jobs, compared to January 2015. The year included some monthly gains and other monthly losses.
• Reinsurance carrier employment came in at 24,700. That’s a gain of 0.8 percent, or 200 jobs, compared to January 2015.

For more details about the I.I.I. report “Insurance Industry Employment Trends: 1990-2016 (January 2016),” Weisbart’s article carriers links to a more detailed presentation. They can be accessed here.

Source: Insurance Information Institute