19 thousand 652 people are currently employed by insurance and pension companies in Turkey; and 31 percent of this workforce work in direct sales. Female employees dominate the insurance workforce; while 63.8 percent of employees have bachelor degrees and 8.2 percent of them have master’s degrees. Strangely, only 1,620 of employees are graduates of insurance or actuarial sciences departments.

At the end of 2016, the number of people employed by insurance and pension companies in Turkey reached 19 thousand 652. When we add BES intermediaries, agents, broker companies and experts to this number, we see that Turkish insurance market creates employment for nearly 80 thousand people. Female workers dominate the market in number. A qualified workforce play an important role in increasing the competitive power of companies in the market. Most of the employees have bachelor degrees; however, the number of employees who graduated from insurance/actuarial sciences departments are much lower compared to other fields of education. Companies have begun to prefer employing engineers more and more in recent years.

“10 thousand 986 people are employed by insurance companies; 8 thousand 450 people are employed by pension companies”

Share of life insurance premium volume in Turkey’s GNP currently stands at 0.19 percent, while the share of non-life premium volume is 1.36 percent. Overall market penetration is 1.55 percent as a rapidly developing and growing market, which makes a positive influence for people employed/to be employed in the market
Insurance market creates considerable employment areas with the complexity of its structure, providing employment for nearly 80 thousand people when we count the insurance companies, pension intermediaries, distribution channels and people working in those channels all together. People working in structures other than insurance companies are grouped into sub-categories such as technical staff of agents, experts, actuaries, brokers and other company employees.

At the end of 2016, there are currently 62 insurance companies operating in the market, including 2 reinsurance and 18 pension companies; while the number of people employed in those companies reached 19 thousand 652. Turkish insurance market operates with many stakeholders and a good diversity of products. Major functions creating employment for the market are insurance companies, pension companies, reinsurance companies, pension intermediaries, insurance agents, brokers, actuaries and insurance experts. 31 percent of the employees working in insurance and pension companies are direct sales staff; the remaining 69 percent work in other fields.

According to the statistics announced by the Insurance Association of Turkey (T.S.B.) at the end of 2016, 10 thousand 986 people are employed by insurance companies, employees working in direct sales and other fields combined. 8 thousand 450people are employed in pension companies, while 216 people work at reinsurance companies. Total number of people working in fields other than direct sales reaches 9 thousand 395 at insurance and reinsurance companies, and 4 thousand 160 at pension companies. Pension companies employ 4 thousand 290 people for direct sales, while insurance and reinsurance companies combined employ 1,807 people for this field.

“Female employees account for 56 percent of insurance workforce, male employees account for 44 percent”

The number of employees in insurance and pension companies increased by 13.5 percent over the last five years, from 17 thousand 314 people in 2011. However, number of direct sales staff is going down, declining from 6 thousand 127 people in 2011 to 6 thousand 97 people at the end of 2016. During the same term, total number of employees working in fields other than direct sales increased by 21.17 percent and reached 13 thousand 555 people.

“6 thousand 97 marketing employees are employed”

Most of the employees working in insurance and pension companies are females with a share of 56 percent, while the share of male employees stands at 44 percent. 62.7 percent of direct sales staff are female employees, and 37.3 percent of them are males. On the other hand, female employees account for 53 percent of people working in areas other than direct sales, and male employees account for 47 percent. According to the year-end results of 2016, 11 thousand 8 females work in insurance and pension companies combined, while 8 thousand 644 males are employed. 64.8 percent of the employees have bachelor degrees, 15.8 percent have associate degrees, 9.7 percent are high-school graduates, 8.7 percent have master’s degrees, 0.9 percent are primary and secondary school graduates.

63.7 percent of employees working in fields other than direct sales have bachelor degrees, 12.41 percent have associate degrees, 11.03 percent are high-school graduates, 11.5 percent have master’s degrees. Most of the employees that have bachelor’s degrees studied business administration with a share of 32.23 percent. 12.22 percent of them studied engineering, 8.16 percent studied economics and only 5.85 percent (505 people) studied insurance/actuarial sciences.

“1,505 employees from all educational levels are insurance/actuarial sciences departments”
As to the direct sales staff, 67.36 of them have bachelor degrees, 23.31 percent have associate degrees, 6.91 percent are highschool graduates, and 2.41 percent have master’s degrees. 36.5percent of direct sales employees with bachelor degree studied business administration, 7.13 percent studied economics. Only 2.46 percent of them (101 people) studied insurance or actuarial sciences.

Number of employees who studied in insurance related areas is strikingly low in the insurance market. 404 of marketing employees have associate degrees from insurance-related departments. On the other hand, 150 employees who have master’s degrees studied insurance or actuarial sciences; 606 employees that have bachelor degrees studied those areas. 146 employees working in areas other than direct sales have master’s degree from insurance and actuarial sciences departments. 505 of them have bachelor degrees from those departments, while 460 employees have associate degrees from those departments.
Considering all education levels, only 1,620 employees are graduates of insurance or actuarial sciences departments. (The result is calculated by ignoring the possibility for 1 person to graduate from more than 1 educational level.)

“15 thousand 509 agents, 1,849 experts, and 274 actuaries operate in the market”
Considering groups other than employees working at insurance companies, there are currently 1,859 registered experts in Turkey: 1,271 of them are natural entities and 578 of them are legal entities. Moreover, there are 15 thousand 509 active agents operating in the market. Number of actuaries is also rapidly increasing. Today, 274 actuaries are in operation; 127 of them are registered actuaries and 147 of them are interns or assistants. 42 thousand 693 licensed pension (BES) intermediaries operate in the market as well. As the number of people employed in the insurance market increase over the years, educational level of employees increase in parallel.