The latest U.S. jobs report contained plenty of good news for a number of industries, including the insurance field.
The financial sector, which includes insurance, was one of the areas where employment levels rose most. Insurance carriers and related businesses added 9,000 or so jobs. Overall, employers added 227,000 jobs in January, crushing the expectations of economists and raising hopes for the rest of the year.
The U.S. insurance industry employs about 2.5 million people, including 1.1 million who work for insurance agencies, brokers and other insurance-related enterprises.
A growing percentage of the industry’s workforce are younger workers looking for jobs that give them purpose, that enable them to grow professionally, and where managers are invested in their success.
With roughly half of the industry’s workforce older than 45, plenty of hiring is expected in the insurance field for years to come. It’s estimated that nearly 400,000 employees will retire from the insurance industry workforce within the next few years.
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Insurance Careers Month kicked off Feb. 1 with organizers hoping to rally young insurance professionals to “share pride in their careers and stimulate interest in the industry among their peers.”
Pride and optimism among young brokers isn’t hard to find. In fact, according to Insurance Journal’s 2016 Young Agents Survey, nearly 60 percent of the agents queried reported they were “very optimistic” about their career outlook.
“There is job security in the industry if you find the right place to work because of the shortage of agents,” said one agent.
“I believe that the insurance industry is a great way to start a career,” said another young agent responding to the survey. “You’re always learning and a lot of individuals will be retiring. Who will replace those people? Young insurance agents!”
The survey also found young agents feel more confident about their ability to grow their income and market share in both personal and commercial lines. Some 84 percent felt “very optimistic” or “optimistic” about earning a higher income last year than they earned in 2015.
A study last summer found that more than 66 percent of insurance companies said they intended to increase staff during the following 12 months.
That rate was the highest in the history of the U.S. Insurance Labor Outlook Study, which has been conducted since 2009.
Michael Burnell is CCIG’s Talent Acquisition Leader. Reach him at MichaelB@thinkccig.com or 720-212-2074.
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