Does your company have any current openings?
Insurance Job
Market Muddled
Survey reveals that 74% of nation’s
insurers are hiring.
Feb. 2010
Sept. 2009
THE JOB MARKET FOR THE INSURANCE
industry is still grim, but slowly bouncing back, a
new survey claims.
The 2010 Employment Outlook Survey from
Orlando, Fla.-based GreatInsuranceJobs.com pegs
the unemployment rate for the industry at 7.7%,
below the national average of 9.7% for all industries. The survey queried human resource managers, CEOs, CFOs and recruiting managers at 131
companies. One ominous finding was that the percentage of respondents who said their firm had
current openings in February 2010 fell to 74%,
down from 83% in September 2009. Among the
primary factors helping to suppress the need for
new insurance workers, the survey cites the lingering soft market, a slowed pace of retirement within
insurers and weak demand for commercial insurance, especially in the construction industry.
Yet, the report does find a few rays of light for
insurance job seekers. Of the companies surveyed,
only 8% percent said their tendency to hire new
workers would be worse in 2010 as opposed to
2009, while 56% said it would remain the same
and 36% responded it would improve.
“In fact, we found nine companies that indicated they will hire at least 2,000 employees in
2010, and 21 companies predict they will hire
more than 500 employees,” says Scott Kotroba,
president and co-founder of GreatInsuranceJobs.
com.
As for the jobs, the survey reveals that the majority of insurance jobs open are found at property/casualty carriers, insurance brokers and agencies,
third-party administrators and managing general
agents. The job types that have multiple openings
span the breadth of the enterprise from front office
to back office.
“The top insurance industry positions being hired
in 2010 are insurance sales professionals, claims, underwriting, call center and IT,” Kotroba said. “This is
welcome news for anyone looking for an insurance
job right now.” INN
Yes
74%
Yes
83%
What is your hiring outlook for the rest of year?
of Hires
Zero
21.0%
15.3%
1-5
36.0%
31.5%
6-10
11.3%
13.5%
11-20
9.1%
21-50
5.4%
8.6%
12.6%
51-100
6.3%
4.3%
Feb. 2010
Sept. 2009
101-200
3.2%
2.7%
200+
8.2%
12.6%
Worse 8%
How will your hiring
be different in 2010
from 2009?
Better
35.7%
Same
56.3%
