The share of insurers planning to keep their workforce unchanged over the next 12 months has climbed to a 15-year high, signaling a clear shift toward stability in the industry. At the same time, only 7% of companies say they expect to cut jobs in 2026—suggesting that large-scale layoffs remain unlikely for now.
The latest Q1 2026 Insurance Labor Market Study from Aon and The Jacobson Group reveals a striking shift in hiring sentiment: 43% of insurance leaders now expect to keep their workforce unchanged over the next year. That’s a 10-percentage-point jump from January 2025, signaling a growing pause in hiring across the industry—and hinting at a market that may be settling into a new equilibrium.
Jeff Rieder, head of benchmarking for Aon’s strategy and technology group, shared the findings during a Feb. 19 webinar. He suggested several forces may be driving the shift: a historically profitable 2025, strong investment returns, and insurers finally seeing real productivity gains from the technology systems they’ve spent years implementing. Together, those factors may be giving companies less urgency to expand headcount—at least for now.
“And the last thing that may be also driving this is with the advancements in artificial intelligence, what this could indicate is that companies are, we’ll say somewhat pausing on hiring plans to see just how artificial intelligence will be adopted within the organization,” Rieder said, “and how this is going to improve certain functions.”
Job openings across insurance and finance have pulled back sharply since their 2022 peak, signaling a cooling in demand for new talent. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the annual average number of openings fell to 281,000 in 2025, and by December that figure had dropped to just 138,000—a striking decline that underscores how quickly the hiring landscape in the sector is shifting.
That drop pushed job openings to their lowest monthly level in more than a decade—a striking signal of just how dramatically the hiring landscape has cooled.
"I really do think that this might be kind of the indication of how AI is starting to influence a lot of these activities in terms of how companies are thinking about hiring," said Jeff Rieder as he presented the data—suggesting that artificial intelligence could already be quietly influencing workforce decisions across the industry.
The latest study from Aon and The Jacobson Group also reveals that 49% of property and casualty insurers still plan to add staff over the next year, showing that hiring hasn’t disappeared—it’s simply becoming more selective.
The survey captured insights from companies representing about 10% of the insurance industry’s total workforce. Most respondents came from the property/casualty sector (77%), followed by life and health insurers (19%) and reinsurers (3%), offering a broad snapshot of how different corners of the industry are approaching hiring in the year ahead.
Automation is emerging as a key driver of workforce changes. Companies that reduced headcount most often pointed to improvements in automation that allow the same work to be done with fewer employees.
At the same time, involuntary turnover across the broader insurance industry edged up by 0.6 percentage points year over year. Jeff Blair, senior vice president of executive search and business development at The Jacobson Group, said the increase is partly tied to rapid technology advancements and ongoing M&A activity, both of which are reshaping how insurers structure their teams.
Drawing on recent data, Jeff Rieder estimated that about half of the industry’s 4.4% involuntary turnover rate likely stems from performance management decisions, while the remaining portion may reflect companies quietly right-sizing their organizations—a subtle but telling sign of how insurers are reshaping their workforce.
At the same time, 12-month voluntary turnover edged down by 0.4 percentage points from January 2025, suggesting employees may be growing more cautious about changing jobs.
Based on his conversations with insurers—particularly in the property and casualty sector—Jeff Blair said many companies are doubling down on retention efforts, putting greater emphasis on programs designed to keep experienced employees engaged and on board.
“I hear a mantra of ‘I’d rather pay a stay bonus than a sign-on bonus,'” Blair said. “I don’t know to what extent that’s having an impact, but I think those sort of behaviors can definitely have a positive impact [on retention].”
Jeff Rieder also noted that stronger incentive programs introduced across the insurance industry over the past decade have helped curb voluntary turnover, alongside more competitive and comprehensive benefits packages.
Looking ahead, he said promotional pay increases are expected to land between 3.8% and 4%, while merit raises are projected to fall in the roughly 3.3% to 3.5% range—a sign that insurers are continuing to use compensation strategically to retain talent in a changing labor market.
These trends show that the “pendulum is definitely going back in favor of the insurance employer, for now,” Rieder said. That shift may portend well for turnover, “but could be more difficult as new entrants into the industry try to get in with lower hiring expectations.”
Key Takeaways From the Survey
- Confidence across the industry remains strikingly strong. In a survey by Aon and The Jacobson Group, only 2% of respondents expect revenue to decline over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, 72% anticipate revenue growth, and 26% believe results will hold steady—a clear sign that most insurers are heading into the coming year with optimism about their financial outlook.
- Headcount in the property and casualty (P/C) insurance sector rose 0.81% from January 2025 to January 2026—a modest gain that fell well short of expectations. According to Jeff Blair of The Jacobson Group, the increase was “significantly lower” than the projected 1.42%, highlighting a noticeable slowdown in workforce expansion across the industry.
- Among property and casualty insurers, personal lines companies are by far the most bullish on revenue growth. An impressive 90% expect revenue to rise, compared with 68% of commercial lines carriers and 64% of balanced lines insurers—a gap that highlights just how confident personal lines players are about the year ahead.
- Technology, claims, and underwriting roles are poised to lead hiring across the insurance industry in the coming year. As insurers invest more heavily in digital capabilities while managing rising claims complexity, demand for talent in these critical areas is expected to outpace most other functions.
- Insurers are targeting different talent levels across key functions. Compliance, analytics, and underwriting are the areas where companies are most likely to recruit experienced professionals, while operations and claims teams are expected to see the largest influx of entry-level hires—a hiring pattern that reveals how insurers are balancing specialized expertise with the need to build the next generation of talent.
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