Despite continuing conflict overseas, the economy on the homefront is doing rather well, and fortunately, scientists in industries across the board are reveling in these financial salad days with increases in their average base salaries. As of this writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is well over 12,000, and rapidly approaching 13,000. The 2007 Spectroscopy Salary and Employment Survey reveals that, for the most part, the wealth has been spread to scientists, but still stress is up, and the gender salary gap is widening.

Figure 1: Salary summary by job sector, 2005–2007.

This year, 840 scientists took part in the survey — 75.6% male and 24.4% female, with 24.4% in the age range of 50–55. Based upon their responses, the average annual salary for 2007 is $79,605, up $1625 from last year. Not quite the sizeable leap from 2005 to 2006, when there was a difference of just over $5000, but still another big stride for an ever-growing industry. Out of the respondents, 91.1% are employed full-time. The percentage of unemployed respondents this year is roughly the same as 2006, at 1.6%. However, this is still down from 2005, when unemployment was at 2.4%. The private industry is by far the largest employer of scientists, with 65.4% working in that sector, earning $84,131, followed by academia (16.7%), earning $61,189, and government/national labs (15%), earning $74,853, a distant second and third, respectively (see Figure 1).

Only 0.2% of respondents report an income of less than $25,000, less than the 0.8% who report that they earn over $175,000. This is a steep drop from 2005, when 2.9% of respondents claimed that they made less than $25,000. The highest income percentage (17.5%) claims to make between $100,000 and $125,000, which is also what 22.8% of scientists with 21–35 years of experience make. Despite rising salaries, 50.4% of scientists choose to supplement their income in some way. Out of these respondents, 14.2% say their supplemental income is between $1000 and $5000 per year.

Women Still Earning Less

Figure 2: Salary summary by gender, 2005–2007.

Female respondents still have yet to catch up to the salaries of their male counterparts, and the divide seems to be growing even wider. This year, male scientists will earn an average of $82,706, while females earn far less, at $68,488, an average difference of $14,218. This gap is up from $12,000 in 2006, which was consistently up from $10,000 in 2005 (see Figure 2).

Not only does the salary divide between genders remain wide, but females garnered a significantly smaller raise in pay. Females saw their average salary jump from $68,300 last year to $68,488 this year, an increase of just $188. Male scientists, on the other hand, saw their pay go from $80,660 to $82,706, an improvement of $2046, nearly 11 times more of a salary increase than females.