U.S. insurance industry payrolls added 2,800 positions from June to July, even as total U.S. nonfarm payrolls declined for the seventh consecutive month and the unemployment rate spiked, according to seasonally adjusted data released August 1 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For the month, the industry’s payrolls rose to 2.3 million, undoing most of the 4,500-job loss the industry posted in June. Insurance payrolls had earlier risen three consecutive months from March through May. But while employment in the insurance sector has risen by 8,100 jobs since July 2007, the broader economy has now erased all of the past year'’ job gains. Total nonfarm payrolls, which have fallen each month of 2008, were down 51,000 jobs from June to 137.6 million in July. Total employment is now down 67,000 jobs from July 2007.

The property/casualty segment remained the most highly compensated, with employees averaging $986.50 a week, up 5.6 percent over June 2007.

August 5, 2008