Insurance Sidesteps Most COVID Job Losses

The insurance industry largely sidestepped the economic onslaught of the coronavirus outbreak, losing 4,400 jobs in April as the pandemic ballooned the nation’s unemployment rate to 14.7 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The April national unemployment rate represents the largest one-month jump since records began in 1948, the BLS said.

However, the industry-wide drop in the insurance industry was much lower than that seen in other sectors of the economy, representing a small proportion, about 0.16 percent, of the 2,813,100 workers employed in the insurance industry.

Meanwhile, BLS released figures for employment at the nation’s insurance agencies and brokerages in March 2020 over February 2020, reporting they were up 0.20 percent with 852,400 jobs. Employment within the direct property/casualty insurers sector was flat.