Insurance Hiring — Staying Pretty Much the Same

Aon and The Jacobson Group just completed their Q1 2026 Insurance Labor Market Study. The biggest revelation is 43% of insurance companies will keep their current staff size in 2026. That’s the highest it’s been in 15-years.

Just 7% of insurance companies will reduce staff in 2026.

Aon’s Jeff Rieder said near historic profits in 2025, investments that are performing well and improvements in productivity from investments in technology are driving them to keep staff at current levels.

“And the last thing that may be also driving this is with the advancements in artificial intelligence, what this could indicate is that companies are, we’ll say somewhat pausing on hiring plans to see just how artificial intelligence will be adopted within the organization,” Rieder said, “and how this is going to improve certain functions.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says jobs in insurance and finance peaked in 2022. The number of openings in 2025 was 281,000. In December of last year job openings dropped to 138,000. It’s the lowest level in a decade.

“I really do think that this might be kind of the indication of how AI is starting to influence a lot of these activities in terms of how companies are thinking about hiring,” Rieder said.

Here’s more, 49% of P&C insurers plan to add staff in the next year. That’s good news. Those dropping employees site automation improvements as the reason.

• Just 2% of insurers expect revenue to drop in the next 12 months
• 72% see it increasing
• 26% believe things will stay flat
• From January 2025 to January 2026 P&C employment grew 0.81%
• That’s less than the anticipated 1.42%
• Personal lines insurers are the most optimistic about revenue
• 90% expect revenue increases
• 68% of commercial carriers are expecting revenue increases
• Most new jobs will be in technology, claims and underwriting
• Compliance, analytics and underwriting are where insurers will add experienced staff
• Operations and claims will see the most entry-level positions

Source link: Insurance Journal — https://bit.ly/3Q5uhAl