The Economic Impact of Insurance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Economic Impact of Insurance - Essay Example Indeed, both individuals and organisations in UK appreciate this postulate thus the insurance industry has a major role to safeguard numerous livelihoods and businesses in the country. As indicated by ABI, 20.2 million, 19.6 million, 17 million and 3.6 million of the 26.4 million households in the UK have household contents insurance, motor insurance, building insurance and mortgage protection respectively.9 Furthermore, some other 1.7 million households have medical insurance. Such covers ensure that firms and families do not lock their money in readiness for emergencies but allows such money to be used in building the country’s economy. Employment The insurance industry in UK provides massive job opportunities directly and indirectly. The economy has about 976 firms registered to sell general insurance and some other 285 registered to sell long term insurance as documented by Smart.10 These firms directly provide employment to many citizens of the UK who would have probably had no jobs. Currently, ABI documents 320,000 people directly employed by the UK’s insurance industry.11 This is a substantial contribution to the labour market by UK insurance industry, bearing in mind the statistics by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] indicating that this accounts for about 33% of all the jobs in the financial services.12 Smart observes that the industry employs twice the number employed in water supply, gas and electricity sectors combined.