FBL Financial Group Inc. announced this morning that it will reduce its total work force by 76 employees, or about 4 percent. The majority of those employees, 73, worked in FBL’s West Des Moines home office.

“The current economy and financial markets drove those actions as we focus on the long-term health and vitality of our companies,” said Jim Noyce, FBL’s CEO, in a release. The company has taken other actions to control expenses in recent months beyond staff reductions, he said. “We’ve been diligent in our efforts to reach expense targets without reducing our work force, but in the end, we needed to do more to achieve a meaningful level of expense reduction.”

The reductions, which the company expects will save $7 million annually on a pretax basis, were made across various levels of management and departments, a spokeswoman said. Each of the employees has been offered a severance package and outplacement services, she said. The holding company, whose primary operating subsidiaries are Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co. and EquiTrust Life Insurance Co., employs 1,791 people following today’s reductions.

The publicly traded company reported third-quarter net income of $11.2 million, or 37 cents per share, compared with $16.5 million, or 54 cents per share, for the third quarter of 2007. FBL plans to announce its fourth-quarter earnings after the close of U.S. markets on Feb. 5.

Other insurers have announced similar cuts affecting Greater Des Moines employees. On Dec. 9, Principal Financial Group Inc. eliminated approximately 300 positions locally as part of a 3.5 percent companywide workforce reduction, and earlier this month ING Groep NV announced 72 layoffs in Des Moines as part of a 750-person reduction.