US insurance industry confirms hiring spree with major April-May surge

Employment in the broad US insurance industry may have increased by another 7200 jobs in May after a very strong set of April hires, putting paid to recent concerns that the post-pandemic jobs rebound might have culminated.

The April increase reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) would bring the two month net gain to 21,100. The April gain, although revised down to 13,900, is still the fourth best month on record.

Those April gains focused on the agencies and brokerages, the stalwart employer of the pandemic era, where hiring had finally stalled since late 2022. Life and health carriers, where the pick up from the post-pandemic lows had been most anaemic, also accelerated.

In the event, brokerages and agencies added 5000 jobs in April, a 0.5% monthly gain to finish a recovery from job losses in the first two months of the year. Life and health carriers added 3500 to the payrolls and were up 7100 for the first four months.

Direct PO&C carriers have largely sat out the latest two month upswing in hiring with little sign of traction in jobs numbers since late Q3 2022. A net 800 job gain in April puts the sub-segment back to a fractional gain year-to-date and 10.5% above its pandemic-low.

Direct title insurers and the claims adjusting sub-segment both took a break in April from periods of notable downsizing.

For the broader US economy, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 339,000 in May, putting the unemployment rate up 0.3 points to 3.7%.

Job gains were said to have occurred in professional and business services, government, health care, construction, transportation and warehousing, and social assistance.

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