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Finance and Insurance: NAICS 52

About the Finance and Insurance sector

The finance and insurance sector is part of the financial activities supersector.

The Finance and Insurance sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in financial transactions (transactions involving the creation, liquidation, or change in ownership of financial assets) and/or in facilitating financial transactions. Three principal types of activities are identified:

1. Raising funds by taking deposits and/or issuing securities and, in the process, incurring liabilities. Establishments engaged in this activity use raised funds to acquire financial assets by making loans and/or purchasing securities. Putting themselves at risk, they channel funds from lenders to borrowers and transform or repackage the funds with respect to maturity, scale, and risk. This activity is known as financial intermediation.

2. Pooling of risk by underwriting insurance and annuities. Establishments engaged in this activity collect fees, insurance premiums, or annuity considerations; build up reserves; invest those reserves; and make contractual payments. Fees are based on the expected incidence of the insured risk and the expected return on investment.

3. Providing specialized services facilitating or supporting financial intermediation, insurance, and employee benefit programs.

In addition, monetary authorities charged with monetary control are included in this sector.

North American Industry Classification System

The finance and insurance sector consists of these subsectors:

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in finance and insurance. 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, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

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

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

6,736.6 6,737.6 (p)6,733.7 (p)6,730.9

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

2.1% 2.5% 1.8% 2.1%

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

Job openings

278 304 (p)403  

Hires

115 84 (p)147  

Separations

112 105 (p)145  

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Job Openings and Labor Turnover 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)

1.4% 1.3% 1.3% 1.3%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

2.2% 2.0% 1.9% 1.9%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2022

Accountants and auditors

117,120

Insurance sales agents

424,420

Loan officers

299,060

Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents

420,550

Tellers

346,030

(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 finance and insurance.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

Weekly earnings by union membership status are shown. Recent hourly and annual earnings for occupations commonly found in educational services. 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 by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2022
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Accountants and auditors

$38.95 $44.92 $81,020 $93,440

Insurance sales agents

$28.06 $37.16 $58,360 $77,300

Loan officers

$31.14 $40.14 $64,780 $83,490

Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents

$31.44 $47.97 $65,390 $99,770

Tellers

$17.49 $17.70 $36,380 $36,810

(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

94 86

Defined benefit plans

42 23

Defined contribution plans

94 84

(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

13 20

(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

94

Paid vacation

98

Paid sick leave

98

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

4.4% 3.5% 4.0% 3.4%

Wages and salaries

3.7% 3.2% 4.2% 3.5%

3-month percent change

Total compensation

0.7% 1.9% 0.7% 0.0%

Wages and salaries

0.1% 2.4% 0.9% 0.0%

(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

66.20 100.0

Wages and salaries

43.00 64.9

Total benefits

23.21 35.1

Insurance

5.74 8.7

Retirement

2.62 4.0

Paid leave

6.34 9.6

(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

$1,266 $1,317 $1,377 $1,466

Members of unions

$1,003 $1,012 $1,667 $1,139

Represented by unions

$1,125 $1,037 $1,348 $1,276

Nonunion

$1,270 $1,328 $1,378 $1,471

(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 finance and insurance. 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

21 20 16 17

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)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in finance and insurance.

Establishments

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

Number of establishments

Private industry

568,924 (p)571,702 (p)575,284 (p)581,640

Local government

190 (p)191 (p)192 (p)191

State government

111 (p)114 (p)121 (p)135

Federal government

806 (p)809 (p)818 (p)820

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

 

Data extracted on: March 22, 2024