Insurance companies are facing a myriad of challenges at a time when there is deep uncertainty in the industry and the global economy. Similarly, transformation projects have changed and now require a far greater focus on data and analytics capabilities. The trend toward digitalisation has resulted in companies embracing the cloud, and with each wave of transformation, the level of cost and complexity has increased.
Insurance companies face new risks due to economic volatility, higher interest rates, geopolitical uncertainty, and climate change. This has led to a rise in demand for risk professionals, with vacancies up by 11.4% in 2024 compared to last year. March 2024 had the highest number of risk vacancies in over a year, indicating a continuing trend.
Claims continue to grow, with recruitment within insurance firms persisting across all sectors. The escalating impact of climate change on the property sector is evidenced by a long-term increase in insurance claims payouts, surpassing those of a decade ago.
In a world of ever-increasing risk, specialist insurance services rise as businesses look to mitigate their exposure. Hence, for the industry, 2023 has proven to be a busy year, with the sector being one of the top performers across all industries in terms of year-on-year activity this past year. On that point specifically, we saw vacancies drop by 15.1% compared to 2022. That compares to an all-industry fall of 30%.
According to the 2023 forecast, (Non-IT) Change vacancies are poised for remarkable growth, with a projected increase of 9.2%. As a result, vacancies this year on track to hit record levels, with a forecast of 113 versus 103 last year according to the latest UK Labour Market Trends report by Harrison Holgate and labour market data analysts Vacancysoft.
As one of the largest insurance markets in the world, the UK industry is surpassed in size only by the U.S., China, and Japan, where London is at the heart of that. With that, since quantitative tightening was initiated last summer, nearly all other market segments have slowed down in the capital. Not with Insurance, with January 2023 hitting all-time record levels according to Insurance specialists Harrison Holgate, and labour market data analysts Vacancysoft.
