Healthier 2007 Insurance Industry Reported Revenue of $1.7 Trillion

A data snapshot of the insurance industry by the U.S. Census Bureau, shows a pre-recession $1.7 trillion in total industry revenue.

The census counted 184,752 separate insurance business establishments, the vast majority of those agencies. And at the time, more than 2.4 million people worked in the industry, a number more recently tallied at less than 2.2 million by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Life insurers had the leading revenue stream, bringing in $537.6 billion, followed by health insurers with $497.6 billion and property/casualty insurers reporting $421.8 billion in revenue.

However, the payroll numbers for the three reversed that order, with property/casualty paying $38.8 billion, health insurers paying $29.6 billion and life insurers paying $27.9 billion. The numbers of employees for each of those three sectors were also ranked in that order.

Agencies and brokerages had the most employees, though, with 695,275 — a number that the most recent jobs report said is now about 630,800.

The U.S. economic census conducts profiles of industries every five years, gradually reporting the results. The insurance numbers were released along with the rest of the financial sector.