Son of Tabulation of Salary Data
Joe Dynlacht (Joe.Dynlacht@CCLINK.NET.uokhsc.edu)
Thu, 25 May 95 14:20:24 CST
Disclaimer: This is a long-winded e-mail message, since the data
cannot easily be arranged in a table. Attempt to decipher its
contents only if you are among the subset of subscribers interested in
what your fellow Flow Cytometry Core directors are paying out or what
your fellow operators/managers are earning!
Welcome to the Son (or Daughter) of Tabulation of Salary Data! (To
all Directors or other persons holding the purse strings: Put on your
battle armor---Someone may be hitting you up for a raise!)
To refresh everyone's memory, a couple of months ago I posted a
message in which I asked core lab directors to contribute info
regarding operator salary structures. I asked for confidential
details pertaining to the experience of the operator (in years),
geographical location of the labs, and type of institution. While the
survey was predominantly geared toward labs in the USA, Canadian labs
were also asked to contribute info.
Over the last few weeks, I received a total of about 30 replies. Even
though there were a lot of replies,the data were particularly
difficult to tabulate since there were a sparse number of responses in
some of the categories (see below) and for different levels of
experience. Keep in mind that if you or someone else had decided on
different cut-offs (for different levels of experience, for instance),
then mean values would, of course, shift. Also, note that I have
defined the "West" to be any lab west of the Rockies. This means that
Cheyenne, Wyoming would still be considered "Midwest." Also, please
keep in mind that in certain circumstances, I must be vague with some
of the data. The flow cytometry community still has that small-town
feeling in that many people know many other people quite well, and I
want to maintain confidentiality (nuff said). Having said all this,
let's take a peek at the results:
East (13 replies)-Salary ranged from $20K for an individual with
virtually no experience to the mid-$60K range for individuals with up
to 15 years experience. Among these, 8 replies were from
universities. At universities, the range was $20K-56K for 0-10 years
of experience. For 3-7 years experience, the calculated mean was
$37K. For 10-15 years of experience, the mean was $50K. For clinical
labs (including medical and hospital people), both associated or not
associated with the federal government, the range for the 4 responses
received was $24.5K (2 yrs) to $65K (15 yrs).
Midwest (11 replies)-The range of all the replies was $19K to $40K.
However, some individuals with 1-2 years of experience were making the
mean or more (see below) while others with the same level of
experience were at the lowest end of the range. After 2 years of
experience, university and clinical data ranges did not differ. From
the eight replies from universities, I came up with the following mean
values: 1-3 yrs=$25.5K
4-7 yrs=$31K (2 responses)
8-12 yrs=$40K
West (3 replies)-Though there were only 3 responses (all from
universities), they were very consistent. All had 10-13 years of
experience and the range was $50-52K. Too bad there wasn't more
participation from this region.
Canada (3 replies)-While it would have been nice to break things down
by provinces, it was impossible to do so while maintaining
confidentiality. The data was very consistent, nonetheless, with a
mean salary of $52K (CAN) for 6-10 years of experience (range maximum
was about $41.5K in US dollars given the current conversion).
Responses were from universities or governmental agencies. Again,
it's too bad there wasn't a greater response.
Let me also add that many individuals are paid on the same scale as
all other research techs/assistants in their respective systems.
However, many reported that some individuals get greater salary than
what their rating usually pays, either because they are in a special
category (usually created by the director approaching the personnel
department to set this up, I imagine) or they receive hazard pay (for
working with HIV, etc.).
I want to thank all of those individuals who participated in, or made
suggestions about this survey, and indeed hope that it proves useful.
Joe Dynlacht
Director, Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Core Facility
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
joe-dynlacht@uokhsc.edu
CD ROM Vol 2 was produced by staff at the Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories
and distributed free of charge as an educational service to the cytometry community.
If you have any comments please direct them to Dr. J. Paul Robinson, Professor & Director, PUCL,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. Phone:(317) 494-0757; FAX (317) 494-0517; Web http://www.cyto.purdue.edu
EMAIL robinson@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu
