Heading back-to-school in search of a career? Have you considered training for a high-demand career in Insurance?
A CIBC World Markets report released this week shows that many university graduates aren’t gaining the career traction they had hoped after earning their degrees.
Completing post-secondary education is still the best route to a well-paying, quality job in Canada but the premium is dropping as too few students are graduating from programs that are in high demand, the report found.
“Despite the overwhelming evidence that one’s field of study is the most important factor determining labour market outcomes, today’s students have not gravitated to more financially advantageous fields in a way that reflects the changing reality of the labour market.” says CIBC Deputy Chief Economist Benjamin Tal who coauthored the report with CIBC Economist, Emanuella Enenajor.
“Most Canadians are aware that on average, your odds to earn more are better with a degree in engineering than a degree in medieval history,” Tal said. “But it’s not clear that students, armed with that knowledge, have been making the most profitable decisions.”
Canadian Insurance industry studies are highlighting the need for a number of new entrants into insurance field. Basic Insurance agent training and licensing in Canada can be done in a short time and at low cost, in comparison to a university education. Insurance careers in Canada can be very well paying, and trained insurance professionals are in high demand.
The CIBC economists examined various reports that have attempted to compute an annualized average return on investment (ROI) on education and found stark divergences depending on the field of study.
“For students shelling out thousands in higher-learning costs, a university degree can be viewed as an investment with upfront expenses, and a stream of future benefits,” says Mr. Tal.
Licensing for Insurance agents can be done in some provinces in as little as one week, at a cost of only hundreds of dollars, not the thousands that university students can expect to pay on their way to earning a degree. This means insurance training and licensing students can be working in their chosen career years earlier than university graduates, and can enter the workforce with far less debt.
Tal says he thinks it is crucial to Canada’s economy that we start producing more graduates in growth areas of the economy. “Improving participation rates in these fields will likely require some combination of developing an information infrastructure system designed to identify emerging trends in labour market needs, improved quality and equity of learning opportunities, increased resources, improved system efficiency and increased private investment, in part, in the form of corporate investment.”
The Insurance Institute of Canada‘s 2012 report highlights the need for insurance companies to diversify recruitment and retention strategies, and be pro-active about management training and education, in order to fill the expected demand for trained and qualified insurance professionals.
To learn about insurance training options in your province, visit ILScorp.com, Canada’s leader in online insurance education.
