Saving You Money For Life

A Connecticut economic development organization has recently completed a survey that shows the insurance industry to be among the major employers in the state. Industry employment and payroll show that Connecticut — once known as the insurance capital of the United States — is still more dependent on insurance than any other state, according to the 48-page study by the Connecticut Economic Resource Center Inc.

The study was produced to reinforce a recent advertising campaign that was intended to breathe life into what has historically been Connecticut’s most important industry. In recent years, the state’s prominence has been challenged by both Iowa and Nebraska.

Wages paid by insurers in Connecticut account for 6.1 percent of the state’s total wages, the study says. That’s nearly double the 3.2 percent in Iowa, the next-highest state, which has been aggressively recruiting insurance operations since the 1980s.

Connecticut also has the highest concentration of insurance company jobs of any state, 3.2 percent of total state employment in 2005, about the same as in 1995. Ranked second in that category is Nebraska, at 2.1 percent due to companies such as Mutual of Omaha, Lincoln Benefit Life and Physicians Mutual Insurance Co.

From 1995 to 2005, insurance jobs in insurance companies in Connecticut increased by 2.4 percent, the study says, citing the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the same period, 1995-2005, insurers’ operations in Iowa increased employment by 8.8 percent.

Connecticut has 72 insurance company headquarters, according to the study. In addition to well-known insurers such as Aetna and The Hartford, headquarters include many that are smaller or not as well known to the public in industry segments such as surety, accident and health insurance and reinsurance. The state has laid claim to “The Insurance Capital of America” since early in the nineteenth century.

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