Posted by The Jacobson Group
U.S. Unemployment Hits a Four-Year High, Insurance Unemployment Sees Slight Increase
AT-A-GLANCE NUMBERS
 | Unemployment for the insurance carriers and related activities sector increased to 2.5% in November. |
 | The insurance carriers and related activities sector lost 9,200 jobs in November. |
 | At more than 3 million jobs, industry employment decreased by approximately 10,600 jobs compared to November 2024. |
 | The U.S. unemployment rate increased to 4.6% in November and the overall economy added 64,000 jobs. |
INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS
- On a year-to-year basis, October* insurance industry employment saw job increases in agents/brokers (up 2%), property and casualty (up 1.8%), title (up 1.3%) and TPAs (up 0.2%). Meanwhile, jobs decreased in claims (down 11.5%), reinsurance (down 3.5%) and life/health (down 2.2%).
- On a year-to-year basis, October saw weekly earnings increases in all categories: agents/brokers (up 10.1%), property and casualty (up 6.8%), title (up 3.5%), TPAs (up 3.1%) and claims (up 1.9%). **
- Within the larger finance and insurance sector, job openings decreased to 224,000 for October*.
- Retirement levels remained stable while the level of voluntary quits decreased for finance and insurance in October.
- The average rate of hires within finance and insurance is tracking ahead for 2025 (at 2.2%) compared to 2024 (2%) and 2023 (1.9%).
Notes:
The BLS continues to revise numbers to be most accurate, which may contribute to inconsistencies, depending on when reports were pulled.
*The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report and reports on wages and employment for the industry category are only available for two months prior.
**The BLS has not reported on reinsurance and life/health insurance earnings since December 2024.
The BLS did not publish an October 2025 Employment Situation news release.
The source for the data represented in PULSE is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Insurance data is derived from the insurance carriers and related activities sector.