The rising need for claims and customer service personnel following last summer’s natural disasters has been offset by recruiting people out of other industries, according to recruitment specialist Hays Insurance.

Its annual salary trends guide for the Asia-Pacific region says recruitment in the Australian general insurance sector remained solid as a result of the natural disasters creating a void in claims and customer service.

This led insurance companies to fill the need with people from other industries who had good customer service and phone skills.

No significant increase in salary levels has occurred as result, although experienced insurance personnel are now being paid at the top end of their salary scale and states that were lagging behind in salary are now more competitive.

Demand remains high for technical insurance experts, particularly underwriters, loss adjusters and account executives across all sectors, as well as for account executives in broking and sales professionals in life, commercial, health and superannuation.

Salaries are stable in all states except NSW, where underwriters in the life sector are in very short supply and so command higher salaries.

New Zealand has a similar outlook to Australia, with the Christchurch earthquake placing a strain on available talent and leading to a shortage of loss adjusters and claims specialists.

The Earthquake Commission employed a large number of customer service and claims staff and as a result placed further strain on the industry.

Salaries for experienced New Zealand underwriters are also rising.