SEOUL, South Korea — Demographic shifts are causing a talent shortage in the insurance industry, and companies must rethink their recruitment and retention strategies to reflect those changes, several experts say.

Executives need to place a higher priority on talent management and formulate plans to engage and attract talented workers, they say.

The aging population and declining fertility rates will dramatically affect the age profiles of many workforces, including companies in the insurance sector, said Jean Kwon, faculty chair and professor in the School of Risk Management at St. John's University in New York.

Research shows that the percentage of workers 55 to 64 years old in the U.S. finance and insurance sector rose 38% from 2000 to 2007, he said Tuesday during a presentation and the International Insurance Society's annual seminar in Seoul, South Korea.

To attract more young people with relevant qualifications to the insurance industry, companies need to build relationships with colleges and universities offering insurance and risk management courses, Mr. Kwon said.

“We may even need to go down to the high school level to let high school juniors and seniors know about the importance of insurance,” he said.

To build great companies in the current environment, insurance CEOs need to be actively involved in talent management, said Michael Pritula, a director at McKinsey & Co. in New York. Senior executives “will need to spend more time on human capital management than ever before,” he said.

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In addition, companies need to make choices about what activities they will keep in-house and what they will outsource, Mr. Pritula said.

“These choices are multiplying, and the insurance company of the future will not house the same activities going forward as it has in the past; and that, too, will affect your skill strategy,” he said

Executives should also be aware that their employees are far more educated about their employment options than they were in the past, he said.

Senior leaders at insurers also need to find out more about talent management trends within the industry and spend more time with their peers at other companies, Mr. Pritula said.

“Understand better the quality of talent in other organizations so you that you can continue to benchmark against your own assessments,” he said.