Impact of Market Concentration on Employment and Wages: A Look at the Insurance Industry

Abstract

In this study, we examine how the market concentration in the insurance industry impacts employment and wages. We use panel data, with fixed effects, to find that a higher market concentration is associated with lower employment in the industry. Additionally, we find that market concentration is associated with a lower share of wages. However, we do not find any association between concentration and average annual wage. Surprisingly we do find that market concentration is positively associated with higher total sales. Thus, we hypothesize that lower employment is not driven by the poor economic performance of the industry.