The U.S. unemployment rate decreased to 7.0 percent in November, with the addition of 203,000 jobs. And, unemployment for insurance carriers and related activities decreased to 2.9 percent in November, with the addition of 5,600 jobs, according to The Jacobson Group, a provider of insurance talent, based on data derived from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Industry employment — currently at approximately 2.381 million jobs — is up roughly 33,300 jobs compared to November 2012. Year-over-year, the industry saw job growth in November for reinsurance (5.06 percent), title (4.68 percent), third-party administrators (3.41 percent), health (3.20 percent), agents/brokers (1.95 percent) and property/casualty (1.13 percent). Claims and life saw decreases of 5.16 percent and 2.96 percent, respectively.
Also, weekly wages increased for TPAs (9.73 percent), life/health (5.63 percent), agents/brokers (3.60 percent), title (3.43 percent), property/casualty (2.78 percent) and claims (2.75 percent). Reinsurance weekly wages were down 0.44 percent.