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.

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	Jun. 2024	Jul. 2024	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		3,022.6	3,026.0	(p)3,029.8	(p)3,034.6
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees		2,348.7	2,360.1	(p)2,362.5
Unemployment
Unemployment rate		1.4%	1.9%	3.1%	2.3%
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, 2023
Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators	214,410
First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers	67,620
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	188,860
Insurance sales agents	432,540
Insurance underwriters	93,500

(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	May 2024	Jun. 2024	Jul. 2024	Aug. 2024
Average hourly earnings		$44.98	$45.22	$45.17	(p)$45.30
Average weekly hours		38.0	38.6	37.6	(p)37.9
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	May 2024	Jun. 2024	Jul. 2024	Aug. 2024
Average hourly earnings		$38.04	$38.15	$38.15	(p)$38.15
Average weekly hours		37.3	38.1	37.2	(p)37.4
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series	Wages, 2023
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators	35.65	36.05	74,150	74,980
First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers	36.09	37.75	75,060	78,520
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	22.81	24.30	47,450	50,550
Insurance sales agents	28.50	38.41	59,280	79,890
Insurance underwriters	37.43	41.29	77,860	85,870

(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	2024	Back data	2024
Private industry
Retirement benefit plans		94		87
Defined benefit plans		35		24
Defined contribution plans		93		84

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series	After 1 year of service		After 20 years of service
	Back data	2024	Back data	2024
Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans		12		19

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series	Back data	2024
Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits
Health care		92
Paid vacation		98
Paid sick leave		98

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series	Back data	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation		3.1%	2.7%	3.1%	2.1%
Wages and salaries		3.4%	2.7%	3.5%	2.1%
3-month percent change
Total compensation		-0.4%	1.4%	1.8%	-0.6%
Wages and salaries		-0.6%	1.1%	2.2%	-0.6%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series	Private industry
	Compensation component ($ per hour worked)		Percent of total compensation
	Back data	2nd quarter 2024	Back data	2nd quarter 2024
Total compensation		62.05		100.0
Wages and salaries		40.47		65.2
Total benefits		21.58		34.8
Insurance		5.89		9.5
Retirement		2.43		3.9
Paid leave		5.62		9.1

(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	Jun. 2024	Jul. 2024	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024
Producer price index		(p)157.329	(p)157.529	(p)158.126	(p)158.573
Percent change from previous month		(p)0.1%	(p)0.1%	(p)0.4%	(p)0.3%
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	2nd quarter 2023	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Private industry		220,375	222,896	224,430	(p)226,857
Local government		86	86	93	(p)93
State government		55	54	54	(p)53
Federal government		165	167	168	(p)170
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of total factor productivity (TFP) compare growth in output to the growth in a combination of inputs that include labor, capital, energy, materials, and services. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked.

Data series	Back data	2019	2020	2021	2022
Total factor productivity (TFP)		2.8	-6.5	1.2	0.6
Output		2.9	-2.1	4.7	-4.7
Combined inputs		0.1	4.7	3.5	-5.2
Capital input		4.2	6.9	7.8	7.5
Labor input		2.1	1.8	-0.4	2.1
Labor productivity, output per hour		0.5	-2.9	4.9	-6.3

(Source: Productivity)

 

Data extracted on: October 31, 2024