A new survey from insurance recruiting firm The Jacobson Group and consulting firm Ward Group shows the majority of property/casualty insurers are expecting to hire more staff over the next 12 months.
The mid-year insurance labor market survey asked insurance companies for their expectations regarding future revenue growth and the staffing level.
More than 85 percent of P/C insurers in the survey said they are expecting their revenues to grow during the next 12 months. In comparison, some 77 percent of life/health insurers said they expect revenue growth.
Among all survey respondents, including P/C and life/health insurers, 81 percent said they expect higher revenues during the next one year, which is down slightly compared to the January 2013 survey when 86 percent of overall respondents said they expect higher revenues.
Less than 3 percent of all surveyed companies said they expect a decrease in revenue during the next 12 months — none with a decrease greater than 10 percent.
The survey found approximately 52 percent of P/C insurers polled said they expect to increase staff over the next 12 months, down a few percentage points compared to the same survey one year ago, when 56 percent of P/C insurers said they expected to increase staff.
Biggest reasons cited for adding jobs in the latest survey were company expansions and anticipated increases in business volume. Companies also said they expect to add jobs to improve service and boost currently understaffed organizations.
The survey also found more P/C insurers are opting to maintain the current staff level. Some 39 percent of P/C insurers said they will maintain the current staff level, compared to 28 percent in the survey conducted one year ago.
And a smaller percentage of P/C insurers are expecting to decrease staff over the next 12 months. Approximately 8.5 percent of P/C insurers in the survey said they expect to decrease staff. In the same survey one year ago, some 17 percent said they expected to cut staff. The biggest reason cited for decreasing staff was automation, followed by company reorganizations.
The survey found technology, underwriting, and sales/marketing roles are expected to grow the most during the next 12 months. It also found recruiting difficulty continues for certain roles. Actuarial, executive and technology positions continue to be the most difficult to fill. Commercial P/C underwriting positions also continue to be in higher demand and are more difficult to fill, according to the survey.
The survey was conducted from July 10 through July 26. Approximately 90 companies, representing 180,000 individual employees and 12 percent of the insurance carrier employment market, took part in the study. Some 80 percent of the companies in the survey were P/C carriers.
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