10 worst states for health insurer worker pay trends

Recently, we’ve been using new Census Bureau business data to analyze state-by-state trends in health insurance company employment. 

We used head count data for 2003 and 2013 to determine which states gained the highest percentage of health insurer jobs and which lost the highest percentage.

Of course, figures lie and liars figure. It’s hard to know, just from looking at Census Bureau head counts, how stable and lucrative any new jobs gained are, or how rewarding, or soul-crushing, any jobs lost actually were. 

This time around, we’ve looked at the data a different way: By dividing payroll totals by head counts with average payroll amounts per health insurer worker for 2003 and for 2013.

These are average figures, not median figures. It’s possible that a relatively small number of highly paid executives could have thrown off the averages in some states.

Another problem is that the Census Bureau entries for 14 states and the District of Columbia lacked some of the data needed to compute payroll-per-worker averages. This article is really about health insurer pay trends in just 36 states.

Average payroll changes ranged from a drop of 6 percent in one state up to an increase of 81 percent in another. The average state in this small data analysis had a health insurer worker payroll increase of 45 percent, to about $72,000.

Throughout the country, average payroll per worker for all economic sectors in the Census Bureau survey data increased 36 percent, to about $47,500.

In the financial services and insurance category as a whole, average payroll per worker increased 61 percent, to about $89,000.

In the health insurance sector, one interesting wrinkle is that many of the states with the lowest (or negative) growth in average payroll per worker were the states with biggest growth in the new number of health insurer jobs. In other words: Insurers in those states may have added workers, but it doesn’t look as if those workers were bringing in the big bucks.

See also: Consultants: Temp strategy hurt Oregon exchange

For a look at the 10 states with the ugliest looking payroll-per-health-insurer worker trends, along with the 10-year growth rates for those states’ health insurer employment levels, read on.

10. Massachusetts

Payroll per health insurer employee:

2013: $82,296

2003: $58,848

Payroll change, from 2003 to 2013: 40%

Change in health insurer worker count, 2003-2013: 60%

See also: 30 of the most livable cities for baby boomers 

Image: Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood (TS photo/Jorge Salcedo) 

9. Virginia

Payroll per health insurer employee:

2013: $72,394

2003: $53,170

Payroll change, from 2003 to 2013: 36%

Change in health insurer worker count, 2003-2013: 63%

See also: Recession-scarred U.S. states ill-prepared for next fiscal shock

Image: Shenandoah River Valley (TS photo/Alex Mann)

8. Alabama

Payroll per health insurer employee:

2013: $83,462

2003: $61,376

Payroll change, from 2003 to 2013: 36%

Change in health insurer worker count, 2003-2013: 49%

See also: Medicaid expansion may cut hospitals’ losses on caring for poor

Image: Birmingham, Ala. (TS photo/Jeremy Edwards) 

7. Oregon

Payroll per health insurer employee:

2013: $62,936

2003: $48,005

Payroll change, from 2003 to 2013: 31%

Change in health insurer worker count, 2003-2013: 31%

See also: View: Oregon shows Obamacare remaking insurance market 

Image: Silver Falls waterfall, near Salem, Ore. (TS photo/John Anderson)