2021 employee statistics: more employees, more women, more part-time working
A total of 49,902 people work in the Swiss private insurance industry, according to the employee statistics of the Swiss Insurance Association SIA for 2021. The proportion of women employees reached a new high of 44.7 per cent.
Private insurers employed 49,902 people in 2021, according to the annual survey of all Finma-licensed insurance companies conducted by the Swiss Insurance Association SIA. The report shows a 6.1 per cent increase in the number of employees; this is primarily attributable to the fact that insurance companies who had not previously participated in the survey submitted their information in 2021. If the employees of these companies are excluded, the number of employees in the insurance industry increased by 1.2 per cent compared with the previous year. This increase was mainly due to business growth and acquisitions.
In 2021, the industry recorded the highest proportion of women employees – 44.7 per cent – since the survey began. This trend can also be seen at management and executive level, where the proportion of women has risen steadily over recent years. Overall, a quarter of employees work part-time, with women (43 per cent) making use of this option significantly more often than men (11 per cent).
55 per cent of employees – the largest proportion – are office-based, while 31 per cent work as customer consultants in the field. 10 per cent of roles are in IT, and 4 per cent of employees are still in training as apprentices, members of the Young Insurance Professional VBV/AFA programme or trainees. The most popular vocational training programme is still the commercial apprenticeship, although the information technologist apprenticeship leading to a Swiss Federal Vocational Diploma is also popular, particularly among young men.
81.1 per cent of those working in the insurance industry are Swiss citizens, a slight decrease of 2.2 per cent compared with the previous year. The vast majority of foreign employees are EU/EFTA nationals.
A total of 93 Finma-licensed insurance companies participated in the 2021 employee statistics survey. Of these companies, 14 each employ more than 1,000 people and together account for more than 90 per cent of all employees in the private insurance industry.
