As insurers aim to stay competitive in the challenging and volatile labor market, strategic succession planning and clear employee development opportunities are essential. Recently, The Jacobson Group conducted a study to better gauge the industry’s succession planning readiness. Below we highlight a few of the study’s key findings.

The U.S. labor market remains resilient – despite some economists’ predictions – as we enter May. The insurance carriers and related activities unemployment rate saw just a slight increase to 1.6%; and unemployment for the overall U.S. economy dropped to 3.4%, which along with January 2023, marks a 54-year low. Numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also indicate that insurance industry employment hit a new high watermark in April, at nearly 2,937,000 jobs. 

As we move through 2023, insurers continue to face the challenges of a tight labor market. The industry’s unemployment rate remains low and job openings are high, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, 67% of insurers plan to increase their headcounts this year, according to our recent Q1 2023 Insurance Labor Market Study, conducted in partnership with Aon plc. Despite a looming recession and continued economic uncertainty, carriers have a positive outlook for the remainder of the year in terms of both staff and revenue growth. 

Entering the second quarter of 2023, the insurance labor market remains relatively constant. The industry unemployment rate is low at 1.5%, and insurance employment is steady, boasting nearly 32,000 more jobs than one year ago. Finance and insurance job openings dipped slightly in February*, to 350,000; however, while this number is lower than last year’s annual monthly average, it is still notably higher than pre-pandemic levels. 

Last year, we were in the midst of one of the most competitive labor markets the insurance industry has ever seen. Candidates gained a substantial upper hand in the hiring process, leveraging a red-hot recruiting climate and competing offers to raise their expectations around compensation, benefits and flexibility.