According to the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics there were 211,150 insurance claims and processing clerks on the job in 2009. That’s just clerks, not front line supervisors, mangers, senior mangers, and executives dedicated to claim processing areas of responsibility.

The Department of Labor guide to help job seekers states:

“Productivity gains caused by the greater use of computer software will continue to limit the growth of certain jobs within the insurance industry. For example, upgrades to underwriting software have helped increase underwriter productivity… In addition, adoption of this technology into other segments of insurance, such as life and health and long-term care, will result in declining employment of underwriters.”

Are all of those processing and underwriting jobs at risk? Hardly.

As a driver in the use of software to make better information available to the right decision maker at the right time, I don’t see the elimination of underwriters or a severe reduction in the number of processing clerks a logical outcome. I do see a need to use software to make everyone in the claims processing area more productive, more efficient, and more informed. This will become a business necessity as work functions shift to meet the increasingly complex needs of both new insurance products and regulation at all levels around new and future insurance offerings.