Workers' comp premium volume fell 15% last year - The Business Review (Albany):

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Direct written premium declinedby $1.3t5 billion to $7.65 billion last a 15 percent decrease, the Californiq Workers’ Compensation Institute reported Wednesday. The research organizationm summarized data posted bythe . “The decline in total (direct written for 2008 is no surprise given the steadyy stream of rate reductions that began afterthe 2002–20054 reforms were adopted, the continued decline in claimj frequency, and the state’s anemicd economy, which shed nearly 462,000 non-far m jobs last year,” the institute wrote in a “The latest result marks the fourth year in a row that aggregated premium has declined, extending a steep slide that has seen totap (direct written premium) fall to less than half of the recor d $16.
1 billion noted in 2004.” Last employers paid for workers’ comp coverages on average $2.25 for everyg $100 of payroll, based on data from the . That compares to the $2.46 averag e in the second halfof 2007. The all-timer high of $6.45 per $100 of payroll came in 65 percent higher than the ratelast year, the institutee noted in its bulletin. As for who is providing comp coverage, all 10 of California’s largesyt workers’ compensation insurer groups from 2007 stayed on the 2008 although the rankings changed forseveral insurers, the institutd said.
The , a public but self-supportinv agency, remained the state’s larges t provider of workers’ comp Its premium volume, however, shrunk by $662 or 27.7 percent. “So its market which topped 50 percent prior to the continued to drop back toward amore ‘normal’ falling from 26.5 percent in 2007 to 22.6 percent in the institute said. , better knowb as AIG, and , roundedx out the top three. Of the 10 insurerd groups, seven wrote less premium last year. Theirt declines ranged from 35.5 percent to 9.1 the institute wrote.