Salary Survey Aug 11

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2011Optics and PhotonicsGlobal Salary Report

A Comprehensive Survey


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2011Optics and Photonics

Global Salary ReportA Comprehensive Survey

The International Society for Optics and Photonics

SPIE International Headquarters

PO Box 10 | Bellingham WA 98227-0010 USA

Tel: +1 360 676 3290 | Fax: +1 360 647 1445 | [email protected] | SPIE.org

SPIE Europe

2 Alexandra Gate, Ffordd Pengam, Cardiff, CF24 2SA, UK

Tel: +44 29 20 89 4747 | Fax: +44 29 20 89 4750 | [email protected] | SPIEeurope.org

Sponsored by

SPIE Career Center

spie.org/salarysurvey


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Introduction

In April and May of 2011, SPIE conducted a Global Salary Survey of the optics and

photonics communitythe largest survey of its kind. The goal of the survey was to

capture the full breadth of employment and compensation patterns across regions,

disciplines, and types of organizations. Questions addressed professional focus, level

of education, type of employer, earnings level, and much more. This report summarizes

the surveys main results.

SPIE sent survey invitations via email to its global database. Over 7000 valid responses

were gathered, with 96% of participants located in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Respondents from Latin America/Caribbean, Oceania, and Africa provided the balance

of data. Ninety-three countries are represented in the sample1. For complete survey

methodology, see page 9.

SPIE 2011 Optics and Photonics Global Salary Report 1

Survey Responses by Region

North America Europe AsiaLatin Americaand theCaribbean

OceaniaAfrica

48.90%

2.40%

0.70%

27.90%

18.90%

1.20%

n=7359


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LocationNorth America and Oceania (Australia/New Zealand) stand out as the regions with the highest

salaries, with median earnings well above those of all other areas. North American median

incomes are 77% higher than Europe, double those of Latin America/Caribbean, and more than

four times greater than Asias. This data does not account for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

A large portion of regional income gaps is explained by the level of economic development of

countries within each region. Splitting European and Asian countries into higher-income and

lower-income3 subcategories narrows the gap between North America/Oceania and higher-

income subsets of Asian and European countries. Asias wealthier countries median income is

20% below North Americas, with Europe at 57% below.

Africa (n=49)

Asia (n=1393)

Latin America/Caribbean (n=177)

Europe (n=2056)

Oceania (n=87)

North America (n=3597)

$11,746

$0 $20,000 $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 $100,000 $120,000

$19,999

$49,992

$58,000

$97,200

$102,400

Salary by Location

2 SPIE 2011 Optics and Photonics Global Salary Report

Key Findings

The median salary for survey respondents is $75,000,2 with a very wide distribution.

The factors most associated with higher salaries are North American location and

non-university employment.

Initial research indicates that men make more than women, although other factors,

such as location and employer type distribution, are still being analyzed. A more

comprehensive report will be made available to SPIE members.

The highest-paid discipline is aerospace engineering/research, with a median income

of $105,152.


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$102,400

$97,200

$85,242

$65,250

$49,992

$17,782

$15,470

$11,746

$0 $20,000 $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 $100,000 $120,000

North America (n=3597)

Oceania (n=87)

Asia, higher income (n=243)

Europe, higher income (n=1668)

Latin America/Caribbean (n=178)

Asia, lower income (n=1150)

Europe, lower income (n=388)

Africa (n=49)

Median Salary by Location, with Asia and Europe by Income Level


In comparison to broader populations within surveyed countries, the optics and photonics

community fares quite well. For instance, the average earnings of United States survey

participants is $101,202 versus the average population at $52,507. For Poland the gap is

narrower, at $21,766 in the survey versus $18,380 in the country as a whole.4

2010 Average Gross Wages by Country

(full-time year-round, from Wikipedia)4

$60,000

$50,000

$40,000

$30,000

$20,000

$10,000

$0


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Employer TypeThe median salary of non-student employees of universities and research institutes is

less than any other employer segment.5 This relationship holds across all geographic regions:

people workng in industry and government earn more. In lower-income Asian countries,

median wages at non-academic employers6 is double that of universities and other researchinstitutes. Conversely, in Latin America and the Caribbean, the salary premium is only 7% at

non-academic organizations.

University/research institute (n

=3316)

Civilian government (n=497)

Self-employed/consultant (n=71)

Military/defense (n=269)

Company/corporation (n=3206)

$52,944

$91,350

$96,000$100,000

$100,000

Median Salary by Employer Type

Median salary and premium, by region,for academic and non-academic employers

Academic Non-academic Premium for Non-Employers Employers academic Employment

Asia, lower income $13,923 $27,846 100%

Africa $10,730 $19,885 8

North America $85,000 $110,594 30%

Europe, higher income $61,653 $80,000 30%

Oceania $89,640 $110,700 23%

Europe, lower income $17,782 $21,070 18%

Asia, higher income $79,204 $92,816 17%

Latin America and the Caribbean $51,307 $54,688 7%



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Median Salary by Primary Discipline

Salary by DisciplineAerospace engineering/research, sales, and marketing are the disciplines with the highest

median earnings, averaging $101,551. Civil/environmental engineering/research, biomedical

engineering/research, and physics fall at the opposite end of the spectrum, with an average

salary of $47,850.


Salary gaps between disciplines are partly explained by their distribution across academic and

non-academic institutions. The highest-paying disciplines are most prevalent in non-academic

organizations, with the top three disciplines represented by 597 non-academic organization

respondents versus 81 working at academic institutions. Conversely, the three lowest-earning

disciplines are represented by 1076 respondents at academic organizations versus 432 at

non-academic employers.

Within non-academic organizations, the range of median salaries is $83,077-$115,000. For

academic organizations, the range among non-student employees is $27,407-$85,550. The

relationship between higher-pay and non-academic employment holds across all disciplines.

$0 $20,000 $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 $100,000 $120,000

Aerospace engineering/research (n=273)

Sales (n=255)

Marketing (n=150)

Systems engineering/research (n=247)

Manufacturing engineering/research (n=245)

Optical systems engineering/design (n=684)

Illumination engineering/research (n=49)Interdisciplinary engineering/research (n=176)

Materials engineering/research (n=302)

Mechanical engineering/research (n=224)

Laser engineering/research (n=392)

Optical design (n=152)

Other (n=662)

Chemical engineering/research (n=131)

Electrical engineering/research (n=646)

Nanotechnology engineering/research (n=288)

Computer science/software engineering/research (n=501)

Photonics engineering/research (n

=494)Physics (n=916)

Biomedical engineering/research (n=497)

Civil/environmental engineering/research (n=95)

$105,152

$79,500

$78,600

$78,000

$77,500

$75,600

$68,500

$67,883

$65,250

$62,948$60,000

$56,000

$27,550

$80,000

$100,000

$99,502

$99,004

$89,560

$87,000

$86,100$85,360


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Median salary by discipline for country incomelevel and academic/non-academic employers

Higher- Lower- Non-income income academic Academic

countries countries Employers Employers7

Aerospace engineering/research $115,000 $15,470 $115,000 $78,500Systems engineering/research $107,000 $26,268 $107,630 $52,800

Sales $100,500 $28,636 $100,000 $46,254

Marketing $100,000 $20,837 $100,000 $23,375

Optical systems engineering/design $100,000 $15,470 $100,050 $52,000

Illumination engineering/research $99,500 $34,094 $92,500 $55,050

Interdisciplinary engineering/research $97,200 $33,228 $107,250 $54,660

Manufacturing engineering/research $97,200 $22,021 $96,000 $47,600

Chemical engineering/research $95,000 $21,076 $100,000 $46,700

Mechanical engineering/research $95,000 $23,063 $100,000 $27,407

Laser engineering/research $94,250 $15,470 $97,588 $48,000

Electrical engineering/research $93,000 $18,564 $96,000 $47,780

Optical design $90,700 $18,069 $90,000 $56,283

Other $90,000 $17,017 $90,000 $57,600

Materials engineering/research $89,000 $34,418 $100,000 $35,298

Computer science/softwareengineering/research $84,000 $18,701 $83,077 $48,000

Photonics engineering/research $83,200 $15,670 $92,000 $66,768

Physics $76,850 $17,181 $100,000 $49,996

Nanotechnology engineering/research $75,113 $15,470 $96,000 $55,558

Civil/environmental engineering/research $65,850 $10,056 $85,577 $85,550

Biomedical engineering/research $65,250 $17,897 $99,000 $65,000


Country income level also has an impact on median salaries of different disciplines. In the

lowest-paid category, civil/environmental engineering/research, only 48% of respondents work

in higher-income countries. In contrast, 85% of the aerospace engineering/research workers

are located in higher-income countries.

Within higher-income countries, the range of median salaries across disciplines is $65,250-

$115,000. Within lower-income countries, the range is $10,056-$34,418. The wage gap betweenhigher- and lower-income countries is consistent across all disciplines.


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Other Factors Influencing SalaryOther factors that influence s include job title, years employed, and size of organization.

Unsurprisingly, top organizational leaders enjoy the highest salaries while students anchor

the bottom of the range. Seniority also tracks well with salary levels, although the relationship

between organization size and income is uneven.

Median Salary by Job Title

$0 $20,000 $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 $100,000 $120,000 $140,000 $160,000

Director/Executive (n=615)

Academic Dean, Director, V.P., Provost (n=69)

Supervisor/Manager (n=916)

Lead/Senior level (n=1816)

Full Professor (n=527)

Staff (n=1581)

Assistant or Associate Professor (n=965)

Technician (n=314)

Graduate or undergraduate student (n=556)

$142,400

$130,000

$104,293

$99,004

$88,454

$60,900

$47,850

$39,150

$22,000


The income levels of host countries explain salary differences by organization size.

The smallest and largest organizations, both at the top of the median earnings list, and arealso the most concentrated in higher-income countries.

Median Salary by Years Employed

$0 $20,000 $40,000 $60,000 $80,000 $100,000 $120,000 $140,000

More than 30 years (n=821)

26 to 30 years (n=702)

21 to 25 years (n=742)

16 to 20 years (n=729)

11 to 15 years (n=1109)

5 to 10 years (n=1369)

Less than 5 years (n=1799)

$120,000

$115,000

$108,750

$99,000

$88,400

$60,000

$38,000


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Median Salary by Size of Organization

$0 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 $60,000 $70,000 $80,000 $90,000 $100,000

More than 5000 employees (n=2095)

Less than 10 employees (n=328)

2501 5000 employees (n=955)

51 - 100 employees (n=421)

11 - 50 employees (n=701)

101 250 employees (n=704)

251 1000 employees (n=1210)

1001 2500 employees (n=945)

$95,000

$79,875

$75,037

$72,800

$72,500

$63,602

$62,175

$60,900

Percentage of organizationslocated in higher-income

countries

More than 5000 employees 85%

Less than 10 employees 85%

2501 5000 employees 77%

11 - 50 employees 77%

51 100 employees 74%


1001 2500 employees 68%



The income rankings based on firm size track very closely to the distribution of these

organizations across higher- and lower-income countries.


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MethodologyIn April and May of 2011, SPIE sent email survey invitations to its global customer database.

Surveys were completed online using Vovicis enterprise survey tool. Results were filtered to

yield 7,359 valid responses. Any response lacking salary data was removed, as were duplicates.

Microsoft Excel was utilized to create summary statistics and related disaggregations.Response was voluntary and open. Invitees were encouraged to respond by an iPad raffle and

early access to this report.

1. Sample countries, with number of respondents per country: United States (3371), China, Republic of (534), Germany (372), UnitedKingdom (299), Canada (225), France (196), Italy (196), Spain (172), Japan (158), Russian Federation (143), India (134), Korea, South

(106), Netherlands (105), Taiwan (102), Israel (92), Australia (80), Singapore (78), Brazil (76), Sweden (57), Belgium (56), Switzerland(55), Mexico (47), Austria (45), Iran (39), Finland (37), Portugal (36), Romania (36), Turkey (33), Czech Republic (30), Ireland (28),Ukraine (27), Denmark (26), Malaysia (24), Chile (23), Pakistan (22), Greece (21), Poland (21), Egypt (20), Norway (19), Armenia (18),Lithuania (14), Argentina (13), Colombia (11), Saudi Arabia (11), South Africa (11), Hungary (10), Belarus (9), Bulgaria (8), New Zealand(7), Slovenia (7), Latvia (6), Slovakia (6), Thailand (6), Algeria (5), Kuwait (4), Croatia (3), Estonia (3), Ethiopia (3), Iraq (3), Jordan (3),Kenya (3), Lebanon (3), United Arab Emirates (3), Azerbaijan (2), Bangladesh (2), Bosnia (2), Ecuador (2), Georgia (2), Iceland (2),Indonesia (2), Liechtenstein (2), Malta (2), Moldova (2), Morocco (2), Nepal (2), Nigeria (2), Peru (2), Philippines (2), Qatar (2), Serbia(2), Uzbekistan (2), Bahrain (1), Costa Rica (1), Cyprus (1), Dominican Republic (1), Monaco (1), Mongolia (1), Solomon Islands (1),Sudan (1), Swaziland (1), Tunisia (1), Uruguay (1), Yemen (1).

2. U.S. dollars are used throughout. Local currencies were converted in July 2011 using market exchange rates. Salary figures includetotal yearly compensation, both base pay and bonuses.

3. The higher-earning regions, North America and Oceania, are composed of countries with similarly high per capita gross nationalincome (GNI) levels. Europe and Asia are composed of a much broader mix of income levels. For example, the survey samplefor Asia includes Pakistan, China, and Japan, with per capita GNIs of $1050, $4260, and $42,150 respectively. Similarly, Europe

includes Ukraine, Poland, and Denmark, at $3010, $12,420, and $58,590.Subcategories were created by using the per capita GNI of New Zealand as the lower boundary of the higher-income subcategory,at $29,050. New Zealand has the lowest per capita GNI in the North America and Oceania groups. This $29,050 per capita GNIthreshold is used throughout this report when referring to higher-income and lower-income countries. For information on percapita GNI, see http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-classifications/world-bank-atlas-method

4. Average is used for comparison because median wage data is unavailable for most countries. The average wage data is drawnfrom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_wage

5. Students have been filtered out of academic institution calculations in all representations of academic versus non-academicemployers.

6. The category non-academic employers is composed of company/corporation, military/defense, self-employed/consultant, andcivilian/government. Academic employers is composed of university/college and other research institute.

7. Non-student employees.


Notes:


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spie.org/salarysurvey

Salary Survey Aug 11

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