Finance and Insurance: NAICS 52

About the Finance and Insurance sector

The finance and insurance sector is part of the financial activities supersector.

The Finance and Insurance sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in financial transactions (transactions involving the creation, liquidation, or change in ownership of financial assets) and/or in facilitating financial transactions. Three principal types of activities are identified:

1. Raising funds by taking deposits and/or issuing securities and, in the process, incurring liabilities. Establishments engaged in this activity use raised funds to acquire financial assets by making loans and/or purchasing securities. Putting themselves at risk, they channel funds from lenders to borrowers and transform or repackage the funds with respect to maturity, scale, and risk. This activity is known as financial intermediation.

2. Pooling of risk by underwriting insurance and annuities. Establishments engaged in this activity collect fees, insurance premiums, or annuity considerations; build up reserves; invest those reserves; and make contractual payments. Fees are based on the expected incidence of the insured risk and the expected return on investment.

3. Providing specialized services facilitating or supporting financial intermediation, insurance, and employee benefit programs.

In addition, monetary authorities charged with monetary control are included in this sector.

North American Industry Classification System

The finance and insurance sector consists of these subsectors:

NOTE: There was a change in the definition of this subsector between NAICS 2002 and NAICS 2007. Some of the data below reflect the 2002 definition and some reflect the 2007 definition. See the BLS implementation schedule for NAICS 2007 to find out which BLS programs have already implemented NAICS 2007.

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in finance and insurance. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, Layoffs, and Openings, Hires, and Separations

Data series Back
data
Dec.
2008
Jan.
2009
Feb.
2009
Mar.
2009

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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5,924.0 5,890.4 (P) 5,863.3 (P) 5,838.0

Employment, nonsupervisory workers

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4,523.2 4,492.3 (P) 4,475.5  

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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4.8% 5.5% 5.8% 5.8%

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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40 88 74 57

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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2,998 7,683 5,685 4,469

Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)

 

Job openings

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144 214 (P) 141  

Hires

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84 168 (P) 92  

Separations

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97 324 (P) 109  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Mass Layoff Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
2005 2006 2007 2008

Union membership and representation

 

Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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1.6% 1.4% 1.5% 1.3%

Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)

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2.1% 1.9% 2.0% 1.8%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series Back
data
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008
4th quarter
2008

Extended mass layoff events

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99 89 (P) 104 (P) 98

Separations

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(R) 18,665 31,417 (P) 19,812 (P) 16,497

Initial claimants

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(R) 20,215 20,759 (P) 20,420 (P) 14,727

Footnotes
(R) Revised
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2008

Accountants and auditors

102,700

Insurance sales agents

317,800

Loan officers

293,920

Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents

257,000

Tellers

583,760

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for finance and insurance.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours for production or nonsupervisory employees, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in finance and insurance. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.

Earnings and Hours of Production Workers

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2008
Dec.
2008
Jan.
2009
Feb.
2009

Average hourly earnings

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$21.80 $21.71 $21.65 (P) $21.90

Average weekly hours

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37.9 36.9 37.0 (P) 38.1

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series Back
data
Median weekly earnings
2005 2006 2007 2008

Union membership and representation

 

Full-time workers

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$765 $794 $820 $857

Members of unions

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$692 $657 $722 $762

Represented by unions

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$696 $674 $746 $774

Nonunion

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$767 $799 $822 $859

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2008
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Accountants and auditors

$28.86 $31.81 $60,030 $66,170

Insurance sales agents

$21.87 $29.07 $45,490 $60,460

Loan officers

$25.98 $30.39 $54,040 $63,220

Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents

$32.85 $44.27 $68,320 $92,090

Tellers

$11.34 $11.64 $23,590 $24,210

(Source: Occupational Employment Statistics)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series Back
data
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008
4th quarter
2008
1st quarter
2009

12-month percent change

 

Total compensation

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2.7% 1.8% 1.0% -0.1%

Wages and salaries

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2.7% 1.6% 0.9% -0.7%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)



Data series Back
data
4th quarter 2008
Compensation component
($ per hour worked)
Percent of total compensation

Compensation costs

 

Total compensation

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39.28 100.0

Wages and salaries

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26.39 67.2

Total benefits

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12.89 32.8

Insurance

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3.08 7.8

Retirement

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1.74 4.4

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in finance and insurance. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2004 2005 2006 2007

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

46 42 45 46

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

 

Total recordable cases

0.9 1.0 0.9 0.9

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

0.3 0.4 0.3 0.4

Cases involving days away from work

0.2 0.3 0.2 0.3

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in finance and insurance.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2007
1st quarter
2008
2nd quarter
2008
3rd quarter
2008

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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494,505 (P) 492,941 (P) 491,961 (P) 492,776

Local government

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158 (P) 152 (P) 152 (P) 151

State government

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82 (P) 83 (P) 82 (P) 83

Federal government

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1,066 (P) 1,068 (P) 1,069 (P) 1,069

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Other BLS Resources

The Editor's Desk

See industry studies in the subject matter index of The Editor's Desk (Current Edition).

Career Guide to Industries

To learn about careers from an industry perspective, see the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: May 01, 2009