SECTION I
SURVEY BACKGROUND, METHODOLOGY AND COVERAGE
The Training Board
1.1The Insurance Training Board is required, among other duties, to assess the manpower and training needs of the insurance industry and to recommend to the Vocational Training Council measures to meet the demand for trained insurance personnel. Its membership and terms of reference are given in Appendices 1 and 2.
Purpose of the Survey
1.2The Training Board, with the assistance of the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), conducted the 9th biennial manpower survey of the insurance industry from 2ndJune1999 to 9thJuly1999. The survey was conducted with the following objectives:
(a)to identify the number of insurance employees and insurance agents,
(b)to forecast the likely growth of the industry in terms of manpower and training between 1999 and 2000,
(c)to obtain views on the preferred level of education of employees and agents,
(d)to assess the turnover and wastage of employees in the industry from June 1998 to date of survey,
(e)to assess the volume of training provided in 1998, and
(f)to solicit views on the preferred modes of training at different job levels.
1.3After data processing by the C&SD, full sets of tabulations were available by end September 1999. The information collected would enable the Insurance Training Board to formulate training activities to enhance the professionalism of the insurance industry.
Scope of the Survey
1.4The survey covered insurance companies, brokers and agencies. A list of companies registered with the Insurance Agents Registration Board (IARB) was adopted as the population frame. Insurers, brokers and agencies were classified as different strata. Stratified random sampling was used to select a sample, which consisted of 629 companies.
1.5As a result, a total of 629 establishments were surveyed, comprising 174 authorized insurers, 128 insurance brokers and 327 insurance agencies. The Insurance Training Board estimated that these 629 establishments employed about 85% of the insurance employees and agents of the insurance industry. The remaining manpower would mostly be employed by insurance departments of banks and shipping companies, government bodies and educational institutions which might have ancillary services related to insurance but were excluded in this survey. In particular, the bank staff who registered as agents in the IARB and the general staff working for agents were excluded.
Survey Document
1.6As this manpower survey covered 4 insurance sectors, viz general insurers, life insurers, brokers and company agents, the Insurance Training Board felt that an appropriate set of survey document should be sent to the companies for easy job matching and future comparison. Taking into consideration the organization structure and job titles currently adopted by the insurance establishments, 4 separate sets of questionnaire with relevant principal jobs were designed for general insurers, life insurers, brokers and agencies. Life insurers were requested to report also the number of principal agents engaged by them. The principal jobs included in the questionnaires followed closely to those in the last survey. The appropriate set of survey documents, including the questionnaire (Appendix 3), explanatory notes (Appendix 4) and job descriptions (Appendix 5) was sent to each of the 629 establishments 2 weeks before the fieldwork. Employers were assured that the data collected would be handled in strict confidence and published only in the form of statistical summaries without reference to individual establishments.
1.7During the fieldwork, interviewing officers of the C&SD visited these establishments to collect the completed questionnaires and, where necessary, to assist in filling the data. All completed questionnaires were checked, coded and, if necessary, verified with the respondents before data processing and tabulation.
Responses
1.8From the sample of 629 companies, 621 companies were successfully contacted. The response rate was 98.7%. Out of these 621 companies, 377 had completed the questionnaires and provided the required information, 22 were found closed or moved, 15 had temporarily ceased operation and 44 turned out to be merely registered offices. In addition, 163 companies reported that they were not “career agents” in the insurance industry as their major business were not related to insurance (e.g. motor car dealers, travel consultants).
Note :These 163 company agents included travel agencies, car dealers, banks, trading companies, employment agencies etc. which provide insurance advice to and arrange insurance covers for clients. The number of employees working in these companies were excluded from the insurance industry but covered in the manpower surveys of their respective industries.
Presentation of Findings
1.9The 1999 Manpower Survey Report of the Insurance Industry is published in 2 volumes. This Volume 1 gives the background, methodology and coverage of the survey and summary of survey findings. Volume 2 gives the conclusions, recommendations and business outlook. Detailed statistics tabulated separately for general insurers/general insurance brokers/general insurance company agents and life insurers/life insurance brokers/life insurance agencies are compiled in a separate manual. Insurance companies will each receive a copy of Executive Summary of the Report on the 1999 Manpower Survey of the Insurance Industry.
1.10In this survey, the manpower of the insurance industry was classified into insurance employees, insurance agents and others (non-insurance employees, other principal managerial/supervisory jobs and supporting staff). For easy reference, all data were presented separately for the general insurance sector and life insurance sector with graphics. Except in the total headcount of workforce, supporting and non-insurance employees are excluded from subsequent analysis. Slight discrepancies in the total figures might occur due to blowing-up of data to yield an overall picture of the insurance industry.
Classification of Job Levels and Principal Jobs
1.11Based on the typical organization structure of insurance establishments, insurance employees were further classified into 4 levels, viz:
(1)Senior Management Level
(2)Middle Management Level
(3)Officer Level
(4)Clerical Level
1.12Similarly, insurance agents were classified into the following 4 levels in the questionnaire and for those working in the life insurance sector:
(1)Agency Director/Senior Agency Manager Level
(2)Agency Manager Level
(3)Agency Supervisor Level
(4)Agents Level
1.13The Insurance Training Board understood that the above job titles were not commonly used for the general insurance agents. Therefore, the individual agents working for the general insurance company agents were presented into the following 4 equivalent levels:
(1)Director/Senior Manager Level
(2)Manager Level
(3)Supervisor Level
(4)Salesman Level
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