Bermuda Insurance Association Says Companies Create U.S. Jobs

According to the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR), International insurance and reinsurance companies based on the island employ over 9,000 Americans and indirectly generate an estimated 95,045 jobs in the US.

ABIR’s study, “Analysis of the US Economic Impact of Bermuda Based Insurers and Reinsurers,” found that “US operations of Bermuda’s 23 major insurance carriers employ approximately 9,600 Americans. In addition, the industry estimated that 14,287 jobs in the US finance, real estate and insurance brokerage sectors, among others, were indirectly created by Bermuda firms in 2005.”

The report also indicated that “because these are generally high paying industries, the insurance sector also generates a large induced effect across a variety of mostly service industries leading to the creation of an additional 80,755 jobs,” and contributed approximately $92.5 billion to the US GDP from 2002 to 2005.

“Bermuda firms accounted for $28.1 billion in 2005,” said the study, “but given their role in reinsurance and property and catastrophe lines, they (Bermuda firms) may account for as much as $96 billion of the gross output for the U.S. insurance market.”

Many of Bermuda’s carriers specialize in catastrophe insurance coverage, and have “funneled billions of dollars of property insurance claims payments to homeowners and businesses in the wake of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina,” said the bulletin. “These dollars have helped stabilize regional economies by helping victims of natural disasters in hard-hit coastal regions rebuild and return to work.”

It also noted that “Bermuda firms play a key role in supporting American farmers. A major portion of the crop insurance coverage in the Great Plains and Midwestern states comes from Bermuda.”

A copy of the report is available at: http://www.abir.bm/downloads/ABIREconomicImpact.pdf. The report was authored by GSP Consulting, a Pittsburgh-based economic policy research practice established in 2001 that serves public and private organizations.

Source: ABIR