Earnings

Industry earnings. Weekly earnings of nonsupervisory workers in the insurance industry averaged $798 in May 2006, considerably higher than the average of $568 for all private industry. Earnings of the largest occupations in insurance in May 2006, appear in table 2.

Table 2. Median hourly earnings of the largest occupations in insurance, May 2006

Occupation	Insurance	All industries
General and operations managers	$53.02	$40.97
Insurance underwriters	25.29	25.17
First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers	24.36	20.92
Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators	23.42	24.36
Executive secretaries and administrative assistants	18.70	17.90
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	15.55	14.69
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	14.97	14.96
Customer service representatives	14.79	13.62
Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive	12.65	13.20
Office clerks, general	11.38	11.40

The method by which insurance sales agents are paid varies greatly. Most independent sales agents own their own businesses and are paid a commission only. Sales agents who are employees of an agency may be paid a salary only, a salary plus commission, or a salary plus a bonus. An agent’s earnings usually increase rapidly with experience. Many agencies also pay an agent’s expenses for automobiles and transportation, travel to conventions, and continuing education.

Benefits and union membership. Insurance carriers offer attractive benefits packages, as is frequently the case with large companies. Yearly bonuses, retirement investment plans, insurance, and paid vacation often are standard. Insurance agencies, which generally are smaller, offer less extensive benefits.

Unionization is not widespread in the insurance industry. In 2006, 3 percent of all insurance workers were union members or were covered by union contracts, compared with 12 percent of workers throughout private industry.