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A Mixed Bag

ControlGlobal.com

Control’s 2008 Salary Survey Reveals Some Industry and Economic Shifts. Our Veterans Grow Strong Within the Process Control Industry and Their Job Roles, but Where Are Younger Professionals Going to Come From?

By Katherine Bonfante, digital managing editor, and Jim Montague, executive editor

Some good news now. Some bad news soon. That’s the word from the more than 700 respondents to Control’s 2008 Salary Survey, who collectively reported increasing pay for their richest members, flat or declining compensation at most other pay levels and continuing erosion in standard benefits.

Figure 1: Richest get Richer

The respondents to 2008’s emailed and online salary survey again reported a big jump among those in the highest salary category compared to the year before (Figure 1). Basically, respondents earning salaries above $100,000 increased to 33.7% in 2008 from 27.9% in 2007, while those in almost every pay range below this decreased slightly. Meanwhile, those receiving bonuses of 6% to 10% or 11% to 15% of their salaries increased about two percentage points each. In addition, while those taking three weeks of vacation increased to 31.8% in 2008 from 27.3% in 2007, those with four weeks of vacation decreased to 26.4% in 2008 from 30.6% in 2007, and those taking more than a month off per year dropped to 26.8% in 2008 from 28% in 2007.

Figure 2: Aging Gracefully

Likewise, slightly fewer of 2008’s respondents reported receiving standard benefits than the year before. These small declines occurred in medical, dental and life insurance coverage, 401k, disability, tuition reimbursement, pension plans, profit sharing and company cars. A slight increase was reported by telecommuters.

Consistent Demographics, Few Shifts

The most populous group of respondents remains those from 46 to 55 years old. Last year, they composed 42% of our participants, but in 2008 they made up 43.1%, while their older and younger colleagues decreased slightly. However, respondents 18 to 25 decreased a bit to 1.3% in 2008 from 1.5% in 2007, while those over 55 years decreased to 18.3% in 2008 from 19.6% in 2007, most likely due to retirements (Figure 2).

Figure 4: More Experiences Supervisors

In addition, respondents with 11 to 20 years in process control dipped slightly to 30.5% in 2008 from 31.7% in 2007 and 34.8% in 2006. However, those with 11 to 20 years of supervisory experience in process control increased to 25.9% in 2008 from 22.9% in 2007, while those with more than 30 years of supervisory experience swelled to 12.9% in 2008 from 10.9% in 2007. (Figure 4).

Unfortunately, one group that decreased slightly was women engineers. Last year, 6.4% of our respondents were female, but only 5.5% of 2008’s respondents were women. This confirms the trend that women and younger professionals still aren’t joining the engineering workforce in large numbers or at as fast a pace as in other professions.

When it comes to race, White/Caucasian is still the dominant ethnic group with 86.5% of 2008’s participants. Meanwhile, minority groups, such as Blacks, Asians and Hispanics tallied only 2.3%, 5.0% and 3.9%, respectively. However, though most process control engineers and related technical professionals remain overwhelmingly white, male, U.S. residents, who are married with children (Figure 3), there are a few other demographic shifts worth noting. For instance, respondents identifying themselves as married declined again to 84% in 2008 from 85.5% in 2007 and 90.5% in 2006, while those with kids dropped to 84.8% in 2008 from 86.3% in 2007.

Book Smarts, Street Smarts

Though respondents with four-year undergraduate degrees dipped slightly to 51.9% in 2008 from 54.1% in 2007, the most prevalent academic degree remained “other, mostly mechanical engineering and chemistry” at 37.6% in 2008 compared to 37.1% in 2007. The next most popular areas of study were electrical engineering at 28.6% and chemical engineering at 20.3% in 2008.

Figure 6: Less OT, Hiring; More Promotions