6. Comp kept defying wider market pricing trends
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With workers compensation the most profitable property/casualty line in the insurance industry for several years, there’s been strong interest in whether the sector has finally reached a pricing turning point.
In the sixth most read workers comp-related story of 2021 on the Business Insurance website, experts in early January pointed to the COVID-19 “wild card,” low interest rates and higher claim severity due in part to an aging workforce as among the factors that may have reversed the years-long trend of flat or lower renewals for workers comp coverage.
Several brokers said flat renewals had been replaced with slight increases — a trend many expected would continue. Yet, by the end of 2021, workers compensation continued on with the price decreases — and the profitability — seen in recent years, according to analyses in November and December that found workers compensation to be the outlier in the property/casualty market, which continues to see price increases overall.
