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	Sep. 2022	Oct. 2022	Nov. 2022	Dec. 2022
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	6,599.6	6,615.8	(p)6,615.9	(p)6,613.0
Unemployment
Unemployment rate	1.0%	1.4%	1.6%	2.5%
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings	277	453	(p)326
Hires	149	147	(p)134
Separations	138	114	(p)133
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

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

Union Membership and Representation


Data series	2019	2020	2021	2022
Union membership and representation
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)	1.2%	1.4%	1.3%	1.3%
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)	1.8%	2.2%	2.0%	1.9%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2021
Accountants and auditors	111,790
Insurance sales agents	407,370
Loan officers	295,450
Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents	401,640
Tellers	358,650

(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, 2021
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Accountants and auditors	$38.13	$43.23	$79,310	$89,920
Insurance sales agents	$24.14	$33.45	$50,220	$69,580
Loan officers	$30.37	$38.56	$63,170	$80,210
Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents	$30.10	$44.44	$62,610	$92,420
Tellers	$17.46	$16.79	$36,320	$34,920

(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
Data series	Back data	2022	Back data	2022
Private industry
Retirement benefit plans		93		87
Defined benefit plans		45		26
Defined contribution plans		93		85

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)


Data series	After 1 year of service		After 20 years of service
Data series	Back data	2021	Back data	2021
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	2022
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	4th quarter 2021	1st quarter 2022	2nd quarter 2022	3rd quarter 2022
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation	3.2%	0.3%	4.9%	3.0%
Wages and salaries	3.8%	-1.1%	4.0%	1.3%
3-month percent change
Total compensation	-1.5%	1.6%	2.9%	0.1%
Wages and salaries	-2.6%	1.1%	2.9%	0.0%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)


Data series	Private industry
	Compensation component ($ per hour worked)		Percent of total compensation
	Back data	3rd quarter 2022	Back data	3rd quarter 2022
Total compensation		62.19		100.0
Wages and salaries		40.84		65.7
Total benefits		21.35		34.3
Insurance		5.40		8.7
Retirement		2.38		3.8
Paid leave		5.68		9.1

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation


Data series	Back data	Median weekly earnings
Data series	Back data	2019	2020	2021	2022
Union membership and representation
Full-time workers		$1,167	$1,266	$1,317	$1,377
Members of unions		$1,033	$1,003	$1,012	$1,667
Represented by unions		$1,062	$1,125	$1,037	$1,348
Nonunion		$1,169	$1,270	$1,328	$1,378

(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	2018	2019	2020	2021
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	30	21	20	16
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.


Data series	2021
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	0.4
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	0.2
Cases involving days away from work	0.2
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	3rd quarter 2021	4th quarter 2021	1st quarter 2022	2nd quarter 2022
Number of establishments
Private industry	539,431	547,688	(p)553,572	(p)559,812
Local government	183	182	(p)183	(p)184
State government	97	97	(p)96	(p)96
Federal government	761	754	(p)758	(p)777
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Data extracted on: January 25, 2023

Finance and Insurance: NAICS 52

On This Page

About the Finance and Insurance sector

Workforce Statistics

Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Union Membership and Representation

Employment by Occupation

Projections

Earnings and Hours

Earnings by Occupation

Employee Benefits

Employer Compensation Costs

Union Membership and Representation

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

Workplace Trends

Establishments