1. State of the Union – Actuarial Employment and Trends
Chicago Actuarial Association, 2019 Spring Workshops
Sally Ezra
EZRA PENLAND ACTUARIAL RECRUITMENT
March 25, 2019
January 14, CASS

2. Current and Emerging Trends in the Actuarial Job Market
OVERVIEW | NEW ROLES |EMERGING TRENDS | SKILLS SOUGHT
January 14, CASS

3. About Ezra Penland
Sally Ezra and Claude Penland founded Ezra Penland with the goal of serving the Actuarial and related modeling fields with the highest level of professionalism and with individual and dedicated attention. Ezra Penland works on all levels of Actuarial positions, from the analyst and actuarial assistant levels, up through Associateship, Fellowship, Chief Actuaries, consulting partners and executive management. Ezra Penland has deep experience within the related predictive modeling and catastrophe risk modeling fields, as well, and the firm is excited to be at the forefront of the insurance analytics field. These roles are in Property & Casualty, Life, Health, Pensions and Non-Traditional disciplines. Clients include insurers, reinsurers, brokers, consulting firms and other employers of actuaries and modelers.

4. OVERVIEW

5. Overview of hiring and demand over the past 6 months
More demand for supplemental health / ancillary market experience
New LTC roles coming in weekly
Life – steady hiring
Health – new jobs come in daily, but each one has its own specific need so none are easily filled
Pension – mostly remains flat although there is some hiring to replace openings due to retirements
P&C – steady hiring with some spikes within some specializations
Data Analytics & Modeling – Actuarial candidates who have substantial data analytics and data management experience across the Life, Health, and P&C markets are in very high demand
Start-Ups – Health, P&C, and some Life
January 14, CASS

6. Our Prediction - hiring and demand over the next year
Supplemental Health / Ancillary / LTC will settle down
Life – steady hiring will continue
Health – new jobs come in daily, but each one has its own specific need so none are easily filled – we expect this will continue
Pension – some replacement of retirees will continue
P&C – steady hiring with some spikes within some specializations – we expect this will continue
Data Analytics & Modeling – Actuarial candidates who have substantial data analytics and data management experience across the Life, Health, and P&C markets are in very high demand - we expect this will continue
Start-Ups –Health, P&C and some Life - we expect this will continue

7. NEW ROLES

8. Things that were rare or didn’t exist 5 years ago
Cyberinsurance: Less than 10% of US businesses have cyberinsurance specific policies, but it is now up to almost 3 million policies
Wearable technology: Expected to double in the next few years.Concerns WC, Liability, Life, Health
Implanted technology: Concerns P&C, Liability, Product Defect, Med Mal, Life, Health
Auto insurance by the mile
Gig economy: Health, Benefits and WC insurance packages targeted to gig workers
Insurance-on-demand: We want it NOW!
Self-driving cars: who is responsible when things go wrong?

9. Things that were rare or didn’t exist 5 years ago, AND I’m still trying to understand them
Blockchain: Applications include fraud detection, risk prevention, claims settlement, reinsurance, and medical records
Internet-of-Things: Over 100 new devices are connected to the Internet every second. Insurers have taken note!
Quantum computing: As it evolves over the next decade, artificial intelligence, actuarial modeling, core systems, data transfer and data security are becoming integral
Insurance using bots and AI

10. EMERGING TRENDS

11. Catastrophes – They are an issue insurers are facing (aka, Cats, Cats, and more Cats!)
Climate Change –
Insurers are taking a hard look at
climate change risks -
Lots of Nat Cats Predicted
Man Made Cats – terrorism, cyber, environmental, forest fires,
Health Related Cats - Epidemics – Pandemics
Cats impact P&C, and also Life and Health

12. Startup players - Cybercube, Cyence, CyberPolicy
Stride Health; Yrisk – Products tailored to Gig Economy
Waymo, Uber, Lyft – Rideshare and Self-driving
On Demand companies are popping up daily (exaggeration, sort of), examples include Trov (personal possessions), Verifly (drone insurance!), Slice Labs (focus on AirBnB’s)
There is a long list of pay per mile auto insurers
Lemonade – in the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest claim ever processed (3 seconds!)
HealthIQ
Oscar Health
New products created for the needs of the new generations - security deposit insurance; insurance can be turned on and off as needed;

13. Fun Facts! Source: http://contingencies.org/by-the-numbers/
Increase in U.S. actuarial job postings that mention Python over the past 12 months: +40%
Percentage of London citizens surveyed who would consider having a chip implanted to help them manage their lives, including tracking health: 40%
Value of connected health market by 2024: $36 billion
Percentage of U.S. insurtech deals involving an insurer/reinsurer as an investor: 83%
What concerns Insurance CEO’s: 1. Overregulation, 2. Cyber threats, 3. Speed of technological change, 4. Populism, 5. Geopolitical uncertainty

14. SKILLS SOUGHT

15. The skills actuaries need
Can talk to people who don’t understand what they do for a living (be a businessperson)
Have a handle on new technology and learn new things – Knowledge of IT and Insurance
Data Analytics for marketing – Getting to targeted populations
Critical thinking skills - figure out better ways of doing things, rather than the way they’ve always been
World moves in Internet time - actuaries need to be flexible and change when the business changes or the plans change
Working with diverse co-workers, having an openness and appreciation for each other’s differences

16. Skills, Continued
Staying on top of how politics, laws and digital trends affect the insurance business (international accounting trends, risk based capital, principle-based reserving, ACA changes affecting health)
More collaborative work than in the past
Consultants are building and growing specific practices more than ever before 
Be able to anticipate how things that aren't in the pricing data will affect the price and experience over the short-term and long-term
Bring in predictive analytics, game theory, reputation theory, behavioral economics
Product Management

17. INTERESTING READING – Just a few links to stuff I liked!

18. EZRA PENLAND ACTUARIAL RECRUITMENT www.EzraPenland.com
Sally Ezra
EZRA PENLAND ACTUARIAL RECRUITMENT
or (direct) /
January 14, CASS