Some Observations on the Development of Manual Rates for Workmen'sCompensation Insurance

With the passage of time and characteristically sudden changes in industrial conditions, facts continuously and insistently present themselves as replacements for conjectures made previously in the development of workmen's compensation rates. I t seems also to be characteristic of workmen's compensation insurance that these facts more frequently than not believe their forerunning indications--at least the interpretation which has been placed upon them. Most peculiarly, so far as insurance carriers are concerned, there is no possibility of alleviating the inequities resulting from the dissimilarity between assumptions and realizations on the ground that the assumptions were on the safe side. There is no safe side. If compensation rates are pitched at a level which does not provide sufficient premium to satisfy the exigencies of the business, obviously an underwriting loss must result.