While all distribution segments experienced sales declines in 2020, the extent of the decreases varied by distributor. (Photo: Sergey Nivens/stock.adobe.com)
This is the last in our series on the voluntary industry's sales results for 2019. The first article looked at overall voluntary sales for the year, while the second reviewed sales by product line and platform. This column spotlights sales by distribution segment.
The benefit broker segment continued to take the largest share of voluntary/worksite sales at 65%, and generated over $4.8 billion in sales. Career agents continued to have the second-highest share, with just over $1 billion. Meanwhile, voluntary brokers (classics and worksite specialists) accounted for just under $1.5 billion.
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While all distribution segments experienced sales declines in 2020, the extent of the decreases varied by distributor. Career agents and classic worksite brokers saw the largest sales declines, at 28% each. Meanwhile, worksite specialists and occasional producers saw moderate declines of 12% and 14%, respectively. Employee benefit brokers fared best through the 2020 pandemic, with just a 10% decrease.
Over the past 10 years, benefit brokers and worksite specialists experienced moderate growth, with compound average growth rates of 5.8% and 4.4%, respectively. Classic and career agent growth, on the other hand, has been slightly negative, with compound average growth rates of -0.1% and -1.0, respectively.
The annual U.S. Voluntary/Worksite Sales Report is the industry's most comprehensive and reliable source of data on voluntary/worksite sales and inforce premium. This year's study includes data from 1997 through 2020 and detailed results for 69 carriers. The report is available only to carriers participating in the survey. For more information about participating in next year's survey, contact us at [email protected].
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