Des Moines Business Record
02-07-07
Report touts strength of Iowa's insurance industry
By Business Record Staff
Referring to Iowa's insurance industry as a "statewide powerhouse," Iowa State
University economist David Swenson yesterday unveiled a new study that
indicates the state's insurance jobs pay 68 percent more in wages and salaries
than the average Iowa non-farm job.
The study, funded by the Federation of Iowa Insurers, the Independent Insurance
Agents of Iowa and the Iowa Insurance Institute, was released at a Capitol
Rotunda press conference during the annual Insurance Day on the Hill.
According to the report, Iowa's insurance carriers, agencies and brokers employ
45,128 employees and account for 2.6 percent of all Iowa jobs, double the share
held in 1990.
"It is an incredibly diverse industry (in terms of products and employment), and it
is distributed across the state," Swenson said. "It is a statewide powerhouse. And
because it is diverse, it is highly specialized."
Swenson said the state's competitive position in the industry "has improved
markedly over the past decade, as measured by employment, and the state has
been able to maintain that position despite slow national growth in recent years."
That growth brought strong wage growth to those workers as well, the study
found. Between 1990 and 2005, real earnings per job in the insurance industry
grew by $19,000, compared to $6,300 for all other Iowa job holders.
The study estimated that each insurance job created generates an additional 2.4
positions in other sectors of the economy, for a total annual impact of $3.9 billion
in incomes. Those incomes generate an estimated $309.1 million in state and
local taxes, according to the report.