I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Insurance is a guarantee against financial loss. Insurance policies can be bought for all sorts of things. The most common kinds of insurance include life, health and property. For example, an insurance company will pay to repair or replace the property if it is damaged or stolen.

How much a company will pay in the event of claim depends on how much insurance the policyholder has bought. The amount may also depend on the conditions that led to the damage.

The Insurance Information Institute says American has paid 49,000 million dollars for Homeowners Insurance in two thousand three. The payments that policyholders make to an insurance company are called premiums. Premiums for Core Insurance totaled 65,000 million.

Insurance is an ancient idea. Earlier forms of insurance were used over 3000 years ago in Babylonia, the country that is now Iraq. Also the Phoenician, Greek and Roman cultures had forms of insurance in case of loss or death. By the 1400s, the European shipping trade had developed its own system of insurance.

There are two main kinds of insurance companies. Insurance carriers provide insurance to individuals, groups and businesses. Reinsurance companies help reduce the financial risk to carriers. These are insurance companies for insurance companies.

Carriers usually sell their policies through insurance agencies or brokers. Brokers bring together buyers and sellers. Large businesses often use brokers when choosing products to insure their workers, property and interests against risk.

Independent sales agents sell insurance from many companies. Other sales agents sell insurance from only one company.

Over two million Americans work in the Insurance Industry. A government report shows that more than 90 percent of insurance related businesses employed fewer than 20 worker.

Yet, as of three years ago, just a few large companies employed almost 40 percent of all the workers in the industry. Employment experts say job growth in the Insurance Industry is slower than in other industries. They say technology has increased productivities, which means fewer workers are needed to do the work.

Listen next week for part two of our look at insurance.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. I'm Gwen Outen.