Salary & Compensation Information

June 2009

General Salary Surveys / Collections
Government Surveys || Other Ideas and Resources
A Look at Salary.com's Personal Salary Report

Use these to find out how your current compensation rate compares with others in your area. However, be careful not to take this information as fact. Many factors combine to make up the actual pay rate offered by an employer.
We also have information on Location or Industry-specific salary guides, Evaluating Salary Information, Executive Compensation, Evaluating and Negotiating Offers, Rules and Regulations on Wages in the US and Cost of Living Information.

This Google Custom Search will search this site plus select others that we feel will be helpful to you in your search for job and career information.

Custom Search

General Salary Surveys and Collections

JobStar Salary Surveys: ...originally established for the California job seeker, this site has the largest collection of salary surveys online anywhere. Combined with lists of books to request from your local library and articles from experts like Jack Chapman, this site will lead you in the right directions for your salary search.
Salary.com: ...much more than just salary resources, this site is dedicated to not only salaries but total compensation. The Salary Wizard is fast and easy to use, allowing you to search for base, median, and top-level earnings in hundreds of jobs for many occupational areas, and they have much of the data spun to your local jurisdiction. Beyond the Salary Wizard you'll find helpful articles and exercises to help you figure out things like benefits, stock options, bonuses (and how to get them) and even negotiations. Salary.com now offers you the opportunity to purchase a Personal Salary Report. This is a customized report targeted to your local market, your current level of experience, and the industry in which you work. It's also filled with tips and pointers you can use to help you with negotiations and raise requests. Check out what one job seeker had to say about her Personal Salary Report
SalaryExpert.com: ...offers free access to extensive international compensation information prepared by these extremely knowledgeable experts. The Basic Salary Reports for the US and Canada or the International Salary Report cover many other countries, and each allows you to select a job title and region and returns a nice report showing salary averages, salary levels, benefits, and cost-of-living. Other premium, customized reports are available for a moderate fee, including the Premium Salary Report, The Executive Compensation with Comparables Report, and the U.S./Canada Employee Benefits Report.
Abbott, Langer & Associates: ... salary and compensation reports for over 400 benchmark jobs with current salary statistics on-line in IT/MIS, marketing, accounting, engineering, human resources, consulting, manufacturing, nonprofit, legal, and other fields. Also, current benefit practices and factors affecting pay are described.
Economic Research Institute (ERI): ...among the many products created by this compensation and benefits research organization they link to or offer many free survey and resources. To find these, select Resource then choose either Survey Sources (many free US and International compensation surveys) or More (a very large page filled with a variety of compensation resources, many of which are free)
Job Search Intelligence: ..."provides statistically defensible compensation data to Job Seekers, Employers, and persons with an interest in precise compensation values." Based in the Los Angeles area, Job Search Intelligence provides free salary data along with some information on employment trends in your region, saturation for your profession, and some other data. They pull their information from various government surveys and package it with something a little different than you find on most salary sites.

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Government Wage Surveys

Bureau of Labor Statistics: BLS collects all kinds of data on wages, unemployment, and other employment trends. Search through their press releases, regional data, and other areas for salary and compensation information.
Occupational Employment Statistics, BLS: "The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program produces employment and wage estimates for over 700 occupations." Select a job family from the right side, then look for the closest matching job title to get data for that profession.
Government Reports and Surveys: ...use the Occupational Outlook Handbook and individual state Labor Market Information pages to look for prevailing compensation for various occupations.

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Other Ideas and Resources

Still not finding what you want or need? Try these resources.

Check Career and Occupational Guides: Most career and occupational guides include some broad references to expected earnings for each field or discipline discussed.
Check the various Professional and Trade Associations and Labor Unions: These organizations frequently survey their members to collect salary and wage information, and many trade associations and unions maintain standard pay rates for their locals. If you cannot find information on their web sites, contact the office or local nearest you.
Search JobCentral, Careerbuilder, or other major online recruiting sites: Search for jobs that matches your area of interest in the same location you are interested in and see what the pay offers are. Realize that many jobs may have no salaries posted or that they might even be incorrect based on the regional and industry talent market, but they are a place to start. The various specific industry or occupational sites may be even better than these general databases.

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A Look at Salary.com's Personal Salary Report

Salary.com now offers you the opportunity to purchase a Personal Salary Report. This is a customized report targeted to your local market, your current level of experience, and the industry in which you work. It's also filled with tips and pointers you can use to help you with negotiations and raise requests.

Well, I was very curious about these reports. Are they really worth the money? In order to find out, I asked a job-searching HR Manager to buy a report on my dime and tell me what she thought of it.

"Well, when I first read the report, I got mad, because I was so freaking underpaid! But shame on me for not doing my homework before I accepted the offer for the last job I held.
The whole process of requesting and reviewing the report is an exercise in honesty, so one must be prepared for that. No fudging, or the report won't be accurate. The questions asked to obtain the information needed to produce the report are very detailed -- the variety and accuracy of the job descriptions available to choose from told me that the compensation experts knew what they were doing (at least in the HR field). It was easy to find the one that most closely matched what I had been doing, and then there was even a selection to indicate that I still had duties above and beyond that description.
The report itself is detailed but well organized and easy to follow. It provides both visual and written descriptions of the information. My favorite part, the part that I believe anyone would find most useful, is the Point/Counterpoint sections on each page. It allows one to prepare for the negotiation -- a very useful thing if the requester is not accustomed to having to ask for a reward, like me.
All in all, an extremely useful tool, a great source of information, and a boon to HR-kind."

I looked at the report she received, and it is very detailed. I think many job seekers will find these to be particularly useful in preparing for salary negotiations as well as salary requirements, and folks who are considering asking for a raise will also appreciate the information and advice given here. This is definitely a good investment of your time and money. Just do not go into your current or hoped-to-be-future boss and wave this around as a Statement of Money You Deserve. It is a learning tool for you and a supporting document on which you can base some of your negotiations.

The HR Manager has found a new job with a great company at a very good salary.

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