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Insurance Carriers and Related Activities: NAICS 524

About the Insurance Carriers and Related Activities subsector

The insurance carriers and related activities subsector is part of the finance and insurance sector.

Industries in the Insurance Carriers and Related Activities subsector group establishments that are primarily engaged in one of the following: (1) underwriting (assuming the risk, assigning premiums, and so forth) annuities and insurance policies or (2) facilitating such underwriting by selling insurance policies, and by providing other insurance and employee-benefit related services.

North American Industry Classification System

The insurance carriers and related activities subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Insurance Carriers: NAICS 5241
  • Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities: NAICS 5242

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in insurance carriers and related activities. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, union membership and representation, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Unemployment

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

2,993.4 2,996.7 (p)3,000.1 (p)3,004.3

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees

2,325.1 2,328.1 (p)2,319.0  

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

2.1% 3.4% 2.3% 2.0%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
2020 2021 2022 2023

Union membership and representation

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

1.7% 1.5% 1.2% 1.5%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

2.4% 2.3% 1.8% 2.3%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2022

Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators

207,220

First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers

63,880

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

186,440

Insurance sales agents

420,220

Insurance underwriters

96,540

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for insurance carriers and related activities.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in insurance carriers and related activities. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series Back
data
Oct.
2023
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$43.67 $43.78 $43.83 (p)$44.03

Average weekly hours

38.9 38.0 37.9 (p)37.9

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Oct.
2023
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$37.08 $36.99 $36.93 (p)$37.15

Average weekly hours

37.7 36.7 37.2 (p)37.3

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2022
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators

31.55 34.85 65,620 72,480

First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers

34.94 36.18 72,680 75,250

Insurance claims and policy processing clerks

22.38 23.31 46,540 48,480

Insurance sales agents

28.03 37.20 58,290 77,380

Insurance underwriters

36.70 40.09 76,340 83,380

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Employee Benefits

This section presents data on the incidence (the percentage of workers with access to and participation in employer-provided benefit plans) and provisions of selected employee benefits from the National Compensation Survey. More Benefits estimates are also accessible from the Benefits database, the archived NCS publications page, and the complete Employee Benefits Excel dataset (XLSX).

Data series Access Participation
Back
data
2023 Back
data
2023

Private industry

Retirement benefit plans

92 84

Defined benefit plans

35 25

Defined contribution plans

92 82

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series After 1 year of service After 20 years of service
Back
data
2023 Back
data
2023

Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans

11 19

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series Back
data
2023

Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits

Health care

89

Paid vacation

98

Paid sick leave

98

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series Back
data
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023
4th quarter
2023

Private industry

12-month percent change

Total compensation

5.1% 4.3% 4.0% 3.1%

Wages and salaries

5.1% 4.6% 4.6% 3.4%

3-month percent change

Total compensation

1.7% 1.4% 0.4% -0.4%

Wages and salaries

1.8% 1.5% 0.8% -0.6%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series Private industry
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation
Back
data
4th quarter 2023 Back
data
4th quarter 2023

Total compensation

60.57 100.0

Wages and salaries

39.38 65.0

Total benefits

21.19 35.0

Insurance

5.67 9.4

Retirement

2.39 3.9

Paid leave

5.57 9.2

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
Median weekly earnings
2020 2021 2022 2023

Union membership and representation

Full-time workers

$1,171 $1,209 $1,274 $1,352

Members of unions

-$ -$ -$ -$

Represented by unions

$1,077 $1,003 -$ $1,314

Nonunion

$1,173 $1,222 $1,275 $1,353

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in insurance carriers and related activities. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2019 2020 2021 2022

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

7 7 5 7

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series 2022

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

Total recordable cases

0.3

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

0.1

Cases involving days away from work

0.1

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

(1)0.0

Footnotes
(1) Rate rounded to zero

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Producer price index

(p)152.181 (p)152.470 (p)153.181 (p)154.182

Percent change from previous month

  (p)0.0% (p)0.2% (p)0.5% (p)0.7%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in insurance carriers and related activities.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Number of establishments

Private industry

218,487 (p)220,142 (p)221,566 (p)225,403

Local government

86 (p)85 (p)86 (p)86

State government

55 (p)55 (p)56 (p)57

Federal government

163 (p)164 (p)165 (p)167

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

 

Data extracted on: March 15, 2024