• Insurance companies protect individuals and organizations from financial loss by assuming billions of dollars in risk each year—risks of car accident, property damage, illness, and other occurrences.
• Underwriters decide whether insurance is provided and, if so, under what terms.
• They identify and calculate the risk of loss from policyholders, establish who receives a policy, determine the appropriate premium, and write policies that cover this risk.
• An insurance company may lose business to competitors if risk underwriting is too conservative, or it may have to pay excessive claims if the underwriting actions are too liberal.
• Using sophisticated computer software, underwriters analyze information in insurance applications to determine whether a risk is acceptable and will not result in a loss.
• Insurance applications often are supplemented with reports from loss-control representatives, medical reports, reports from data vendors, and actuarial studies.
• Underwriters then must decide whether to issue the policy and, if so, determine the appropriate premium. In making this determination, underwriters consider a wide variety of factors about the applicant.
• For example, an underwriter working in health insurance will consider age, family history, lifestyle, and current health, whereas an underwriter working for a property-casualty insurance company is concerned with the causes of loss to which property is exposed, such as hurricanes or earthquakes, and the safeguards taken by the applicant.
• Therefore, underwriters serve as the main link between the insurance carrier and the insurance agent.
• Technology plays an important role in an underwriter's job. Underwriters use computer applications called “smart” systems to calculate risks more efficiently and accurately.
• Such systems—also known as “automated underwriting systems”—analyze and rate insurance applications, recommend acceptance or denial of the risk, and adjust the premium rate according to the risk.
• To start the process, underwriters create software rules to screen applicants based on certain criteria, such as income and credit score for mortgage applicants or age and family medical history for life insurance applicants.
• After the software completes its assessment, underwriters can either approve or refute the decision, or, if it is questionable, request additional information from the applicant.
• These automated systems allow underwriters to quickly make decisions and, in most cases, effectively make sound judgments and minimize losses.
• The Internet also has aided underwriters in their work. Many insurance carriers' computer systems are linked to various databases on the Internet that allow immediate access to information—such as driving records and credit scores—necessary in determining a potential client's risk.
• This kind of access reduces the time and paperwork needed for an underwriter to complete a risk assessment.
• Although there are many lines of insurance work, most underwriters specialize in one of four broad categories: life, health, mortgage, and property and casualty.
• Life and health insurance underwriters may further specialize in individual or group policies.
• An increasing proportion of insurance sales, particularly in life and health insurance, are being made through group contracts.
• A standard group policy insures everyone in a specified group through a single contract at a standard premium.
• The group underwriter analyzes the overall composition of the group to ensure that the total risk is not excessive.
• Another type of group policy provides members of a group—senior citizens, for example—with individual policies that reflect their particular needs.
• These usually are casualty policies, such as those covering automobiles. The casualty underwriter analyzes the application of each group member and makes individual appraisals.
• Some group underwriters meet with union or employer representatives to discuss the types of policies available to their group.
• Property and casualty underwriters specialize in either commercial or personal insurance and then by type of risk insured, such as fire, homeowners', automobile, or marine.
• In cases where property-casualty companies provide insurance through a single “package” policy covering various types of risks, the underwriter must be familiar with different types of insurance.
• For business insurance, the underwriter should be able to evaluate the firm's entire operation in appraising its application for insurance.

• Demand for underwriters will continue to be offset by automation and technological advancement—factors that have resulted, in large part, to stagnant employment levels over the past two decades.
• For example, upgrades to underwriting software have helped increase underwriter productivity.
• Automated underwriting quickly rates and analyzes insurance applications, reducing the need for underwriters.
• In addition, adoption of this technology into other segments of insurance, such as life and health and long-term care, will continue to impede employment growth through the projection period, although at a slower rate than in the past.
• Nonetheless, even as automated underwriting continues to be adopted and upgrades to underwriting software makes workers more productive, the need for humans to verify information will continue.
• Additionally, some demand for underwriters may arise as insurance carriers try to restore profitability.
• As the carriers' returns on their investments have declined, insurers may place more emphasis on underwriting to generate revenues.
• An expected increase in sales of health insurance and long-term care insurance, designed specifically for the elderly, also may result in some new jobs.
• As members of the baby-boom generation grow older and a growing share of the Nation's population moves into the older age groups, more people are expected to purchase these kinds of insurance products.
•  Job opportunities should be best for those with experience in related insurance jobs, a background in finance, and strong computer and communication skills.
• New and emerging fields of insurance may also be a source of job opportunities for underwriters.
• Insurance carriers are always assessing new risks and offering new types of policies to meet changing circumstances.
• Underwriters are needed particularly in product development, where they assess risks and set the premiums for new lines of insurance.
• Growing demand for long-term care insurance—a relatively new product offered by insurance carriers—may also provide some job opportunities for underwriters.

Underwriters make decisions based on financial and statistical data. Other occupations with similar responsibilities include and Auditors; Actuaries; Budget Analysts; Cost estimators; Credit analyst; Financial managers; Loan officers.

Other related jobs in the insurance industry Claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners, and investigators; Insurance sales agents.

• BA in Business Administration
• Much of what an underwriter does may be learned through on-the-job training, so the majority of underwriters start their careers as trainees.