Insurance Workers Blame AI for Job Losses
A new report finds insurance industry employee confidence at a 10-year low, driven by fears of AI job replacement.
Insurance industry employee confidence has plummeted to a record low, driven by widespread fear of artificial intelligence replacing jobs. The sector's confidence dropped 7 percentage points from July 2025 to July 2026.
Overall employment in the insurance industry fell by 21% year-over-year. Insurance carriers shed nearly 75,000 jobs in that period.
Claims Adjusters Hit Hardest
Claims adjusters are bearing the brunt of the downturn and are the most critical of AI. Glassdoor reviews show 98% of claims adjusters expressed negative sentiment toward the technology. Postings for these roles have fallen 55% from their post-pandemic peak, a steeper decline than the 36% drop seen in the broader labor market.
Demand for inexperienced workers has collapsed. Entry-level adjuster job postings are down 50% since 2025. The report authors, Glassdoor senior economist Chris Martin and Indeed Hiring Lab economist Feliz Aidala, noted that inexperienced adjusters often follow specific formulas that can be outsourced to what they term "agentic AI."
Despite comprising only 2% of the industry, claims adjusters represented 18% of jobs lost.
A Decade-Low in Confidence
The broader Glassdoor Employee Confidence Index hit a 10-year low in July, with a large portion of the negativity originating from the insurance sector. This is a significant shift, as the industry's confidence had historically tracked higher than others.
Sentiment across all jobs and industries was 53% negative toward AI. For insurance workers, the extreme negativity is driven by three factors: fears of AI-based job replacement, the corporate push to use AI tools, and concerns that AI degrades work or product quality.
Confidence had dropped significantly from late 2023 to early 2024, rebounded, then fell again through May 2026.
The Skill Transformation Threat
The authors indicate that while other factors may be involved, insurance employees are placing the blame squarely on AI. This sentiment aligns with an external assessment of the skills required for their jobs.
Indeed's GenAI Skill Transformation Index identified insurance roles as facing high levels of skill replacement. It found 70% of skills in these roles are poised for a hybrid transformation, where AI leads with a human overseeing the process.
Senior-level job postings remain about 80% above their 2017 levels, suggesting the impact is not uniform across experience tiers.
