Statewide occupation search

Sort your search results or select and compare details of two occupations. Find out if an occupation is in demand or not in demand in your local area, at Learn about an occupation.

Statewide occupation search

Actuaries

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Analyze statistical data, such as mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates and construct probability tables to forecast risk and liability for payment of future benefits. May ascertain insurance rates required and cash reserves necessary to ensure payment of future benefits.

Related: Accountants & Auditors Compensation, Benefits, & Job Analysis Specialists Financial & Investment Analysts Financial Risk Specialists Personal Financial Advisors

Industries: Finance & Insurance Professional, Science, & Technical

Summary
Details

Determine, or help determine, company policy, and explain complex technical matters to company executives, government officials, shareholders, policyholders, or the public.
Ascertain premium rates required and cash reserves and liabilities necessary to ensure payment of future benefits.
Design, review, and help administer insurance, annuity and pension plans, determining financial soundness and calculating premiums.
Testify in court as expert witness or to provide legal evidence on matters such as the value of potential lifetime earnings of a person disabled or killed in an accident.
Determine policy contract provisions for each type of insurance.
Provide advice to clients on a contract basis, working as a consultant.
Construct probability tables for events such as fires, natural disasters, and unemployment, based on analysis of statistical data and other pertinent information.
Provide advice to clients on a contract basis, working as a consultant.
Collaborate with programmers, underwriters, accounts, claims experts, and senior management to help companies develop plans for new lines of business or improvements to existing business.
Determine equitable basis for distributing surplus earnings under participating insurance and annuity contracts in mutual companies.
Negotiate terms and conditions of reinsurance with other companies.
Explain changes in contract provisions to customers.
Testify before public agencies on proposed legislation affecting businesses.
Manage credit and help price corporate security offerings.
Provide expertise to help financial institutions manage risks and maximize returns associated with investment products or credit offerings.
Analyze statistical information to estimate mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates.

Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

Education

Bachelor's degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

More than 1 year on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

153260/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

73.68/hr

Currently Employed

490

Yearly Projected Openings

Conventional: People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines. They do well at jobs that need:

Analytical Thinking
Attention to Detail
Integrity
Dependability
Achievement/Effort
Initiative

Desktop calculator
Desktop computers
Notebook computers
Personal computers

Analytical or scientific software
Business intelligence and data analysis software
Compliance software
Data base user interface and query software
Development environment software
Electronic mail software
Financial analysis software
Object or component oriented development software
Object oriented data base management software
Office suite software
Presentation software
Process mapping and design software
Project management software
Spreadsheet software
Word processing software

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Find Actuaries jobs Education and Training for Actuaries

Statewide occupation search

Statewide occupation search

Actuaries

Work Activities

Skills

Abilities

Knowledge

Education

Pay

Washington Employment Trends

Personality

Tools

Technology

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES