NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - Aon Corp., the biggest insurance broker, said second-quarter profit from continuing operations declined 8.2 percent on higher expenses tied to job cuts.

Earnings excluding the sale of an underwriting unit fell to $168 million, or 55 cents a share, from $183 million, or 57 cents, a year earlier, the Chicago-based company said on Thursday in a statement distributed by PR Newswire. Aon earned 71 cents a share, excluding costs such as severance pay and proceeds from the sale, beating beat by one cent the average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

CEO Gregory Case has cut jobs and office space as insurers trim rates to gain market share. Prices for business coverage fell 13 percent in the second quarter from the same period a year earlier, according the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, crimping commissions for brokers.

"The decrease in prices is going to put some pressure" on revenue, said Chuck Hamilton, a Nashville, Tennessee-based analyst at FTN Midwest Securities Corp. The US economy is also suffering, he said, "so it's not just rates but also volume."

Expenses related to workforce and office-space reductions doubled to $53 million in the three months ended June 30. About half of that total was spent on job cuts.

Second-quarter net income rose to $1.13 billion from $240 million after the company booked a gain on the sale of Combined Insurance Company of America to Ace Ltd. Aon is buying back stock with the proceeds of the divesture and has said it will consider acquisitions to boost its brokerage.