Total individual life insurance new annualized premium improved four percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to LIMRA’s Retail Individual Life Insurance Survey.

The insurance industry saw an increase in employment with the addition of 6,300 jobs for the month of September, according to the latest employment numbers from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics released in October. The insurance career site, InsuranceJobs.com, recently shared these employment trends.

After the recent decision by the Federal Reserve Board to maintain the target Fed funds rate at zero to 25 basis points, Swiss Re’s Chief Economist, Kurt Karl, believes that comments from the Fed will become increasingly aggressive as growth continues at a strong pace and the unemployment rate falls. The Swiss Re Group is a wholesale provider of reinsurance, insurance and other insurance-based forms of risk transfer.

A new LIMRA study finds that 7 in 10 employers offer voluntary benefits to improve the morale of their existing employees and attract and retain new talent.

The stock market might have rebounded since the financial crisis, but according to the latest COUNTRY Financial Security Index survey, many Americans are still wary of investing or simply are unable to get started. Just over half of Americans (51 percent) say they do not invest in the stock or bond markets in any way.

Total U.S. annuity sales reached $61.4 billion in the second quarter of this year, improving eight percent from prior year, according to LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute. In the first six months of 2014, total U.S. annuity sales increased 10 percent, compared with sales in 2013.

A recent LIMRA study has found that 57 percent of middle-market American households are not saving regularly. This number jumps to 69 percent for households with children who are under 18 years old.

Projected cost increases for all types of medical plans are anticipated to be down by between 0.1 and 0.5 percent in 2014, according to a survey by Buck Consultants. The survey notes that this continues the favorable trend of slow, steady declines generally experienced since 2010.

Skills Gap Plays Key Role in Hiring Difficulties

Nearly half of financial- services companies are struggling to fill certain positions, but the reasons behind their recruiting challenges are nuanced, according to a new survey by MoneyJobs.com, CareerBuilder’s job site for finance and accounting professionals.

A recent blog entry in LIMRA’s Industry Trends: “If I Could Only Get Around to It” might help you motivate your prospects into making the critical decision to buy from you. The blog post appears below.