What Annual Openings Mean for Actuaries

Annual openings give you a year-by-year view of projected opportunities in actuarial work. This measure describes expected openings over a period, while projected employment change describes how the overall number of actuary jobs is expected to change by the end of that period. Read together, the measures distinguish the flow of openings from the net change in the profession’s workforce.

For someone weighing actuarial work, annual openings offer a practical way to think about the pace of opportunities across the projection period. They add a recurring perspective to the longer-term employment outlook, which projects growth faster than average. The annual figure is a projection of openings across the period, while each vacancy becomes available at a particular time.

Where Actuaries Work Across Industries

Insurance carriers and related activities are the main workplace for actuaries, making insurance the clearest setting to consider when weighing this career. Actuaries also work in securities, commodity contracts, and investment businesses, as well as computer systems design services, though these industries employ far fewer. This distribution means the career’s employment base is concentrated in insurance, with smaller footholds in financial investment and technology services.

Median pay differs across these settings. It is highest in securities and investment, followed by insurance, while computer systems design has the lowest median pay among the three industries. These comparisons can help frame how industry choice relates to pay, while the concentration of actuary employment in insurance makes that sector central to understanding where the occupation is practiced.

Actuary Employment Projection Over the Next Decade

Actuary employment is projected to increase over the next decade, with growth faster than average across occupations. For someone weighing this career, the projection points to an occupation expected to expand over the forecast period. That forward view describes the size of the profession, giving a sense of its direction as you consider a long-term career choice.

The projected increase suggests that actuarial work is expected to account for more jobs by the end of the forecast period. This outlook can help you distinguish the occupation’s anticipated growth from a snapshot of current employment. It describes a change in the profession’s overall size, while leaving individual hiring outcomes dependent on the circumstances of specific employers and roles.