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Job Description: Actuaries calculate insurance risks and insurance premiums. They design annuities and pension plans to meet individual needs. They are employed by insurance companies, fraternal benefit societies, large industrial corporations, state or federal governments, or they work as actuarial consultants. They usually specialize in one area of insurance.
Duties: Beginning actuaries may perform some or all of the following duties:
- Compute compound interest
- Make the calculations needed for actuarial tables
- Work with policy settlements or policy reserves
- Supervise actuarial clerks
- Analyze statistical information to estimate mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates
- Construct probability tables for events such as fires, natural disasters, and unemployment, based on analysis of statistical data
- Ascertain premium rates required and cash reserves and liabilities necessary to ensure payment of future benefits
- Collaborate with programmers, underwriters, accountants, claims experts, and senior management to help companies develop plans for new lines of business or improvment of existing business
- Design, review and help administer insurance, annuity and pension plans, determine financial soundness and calculate premiums
- Determine equitable basis for distributing surplus earnings under participating insurance and annuity contracts in mutual companies
- Determine or help determine company policy
- Explain complex technical matters to company executives, government officials, shareholders, policyholders, and/or the public
- Determine policy contract provisions for each type of insurance
- Explain changes in contract provisions to customers
- Manage credit and help price corporate security offerings
For additional information on tasks, knowledge, skills, abilities, work activities, work contexts, job zones, interests, work styles, work values, and related occupations, visit the O*Net Online, a division of the National Center for Occupational Information.
Working Conditions: Actuaries generally work in a comfortable, pleasant office. Much of their work is done alone. Some actuaries spend much of their time in the field with clients. Others travel occasionally to branch offices or to attend professional meetings. They usually work 40 hours a week.
Educational Requirements: A strong background in mathematics is necessary for persons interested in a career as an actuary. For related information and recommended courses to prepare a strong foundation for this occupation, Tennessee high school students may visit the Business and Information Technology Standards online.
Most employers require job candidates to have a bachelor's degree in mathematics or statistics, preferably with a specialty in actuarial science. Some companies will accept a major in economics or business administration if the candidate has a strong background in calculus and statistics. It usually takes five to ten years to complete the series of ten exams required for full professional status as an actuary.
Outlook: Steady demand by the insurance industry -- the largest employer of actuaries -- should ensure that actuary jobs in this key industry will not decrease through the projection period (2012). Although relatively few new jobs will be created, actuaries will continue to be needed to develop, price, and evaluate a variety of insurance products and calculate the costs of new risks. Recently, employment of actuaries in life insurance had begun to decline, but the growing popularity of annuities, a financial product offered primarily by life insurance companies, has resulted in some job growth in this specialty. Also, new actuarial positions have been created in property-casualty insurance to analyze evolving risks, such as terrorism. Other new employment opportunities for actuaries should become available in the healthcare field as healthcare issues and Medicare reform continue to receive growing attention. Increased regulation of managed healthcare companies and the desire to contain costs will continue to provide job opportunities for actuaries, who will also be needed to evaluate the risks associated with new medical issues such as genetic testing and the impact of new diseases. For additional information on this occupation, visit the nationally recognized Occupational Outlook Handbook online.
| 10% | 25% | Median- 50% | 75% | 90% | |
| TN Annual | $41,770 | $49,240 | $69,100 | $96,390 | $128,570 |
| US Annual | $46,470 | $58,710 | $82,800 | $114,570 | $145,600 |
*Some salaries are listed at an hourly rate. Those that include a single dollar amount are considered hourly wage.
Wage and salary data provided by:
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Tennessee Department of Labor website
- TN Department of Labor & Workforce Development website
- Bureau of Economic Analysis website
For an explanation of salary data please visit acinet.org
Last updated on: January 22, 2008