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Salaries For PhD Physicists and Related Scientists during Fall 2002: Summary Report

by Raymond Y. Chu

The 2002 AIP Salary Survey is the latest salary study produced biennially by the Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics (AIP). This series monitors the effects of employment characteristics on salary levels, based upon data reported by the U.S.-resident members of AIP's ten Member Societies. These members represent a wide cross-section of career paths available to physicists and related scientists.

Detailed salary data from this survey are currently available for purchase on the AIP iStore. The salary data are presented in twelve tables that each focus on different aspects of PhD salaries and can be found on the AIP iStore.

Selected findings  from the Fall 2002 survey

• The median annual salary for full-time employed society members with PhDs reached $87,000. Overall between 2000 and 2002, reported median salaries at all experience levels increased at well ahead of inflation.
• Society members who received their PhDs within the last 5 years and were non-postdoctorates reported median salaries that range from 6% higher in full-year university contracts to 17% higher in 9-10 month university contracts than did their colleagues with similar experience in 2000.
• Salaries differed by type of employment. Respondents employed outside of academe, specifically industry, the federal labs, and hospitals and medical services, tended to report higher salaries than did their counterparts working in academe. Members with PhDs working in hospital and medical services earned the highest median salary, $108,000. The median salary in Federally-Funded Research and Development Centers ranked second with $104,000, followed by $100,000 in the private sector. Those employed at 4-year colleges continue to earned the lowest median salary $55,000.

Median salary and age for major employment sectors, PhDs 2002. (a)

• Salaries differed by geographic location. Regions with the highest median salaries had a higher percentage of PhDs working in industry than members employed in other sectors of the economy. Along with the Pacific Region, the Middle Atlantic and New England states had significant proportions of respondents who work in the private sector. PhD members employed in the Pacific states earned the highest median salary, $96,000. The lowest median salaries were where the majority of society members are employed in the academic sector. The West North Central led all regions of the country with nearly 70% of their PhDs working in academe. These members working in the West North Central states reported the lowest median annual salary, $70,000.
• Postdoctoral appointments are temporary positions in academe, industry or government that primarily provide continued training or education in research. Their salaries are often lower than non-postdoctoral positions. The median annual salaries for members who are in postdoctoral appointments and have earned their PhDs within the last two years are $39,000 in universities and $51,000 in FFR &DCs and the federal government.
• Over 35% of full-time employed members with PhDs received income from consulting, summer research or summer teaching that supplements their principal salaries. Members with 9-10 month contracts in academe were the most likely to receive supplemental income. Supplemental sources generally added another $11,000 in income.
• Although the unemployment rate for society members with PhDs (1.2%) had a slight increase since 2000, it continued to remain lower than the national unemployment rate for all PhDs (1.6%).

Median salary for selected university ranks, PhDs 2002. (a)

Methodology

The AIP Membership Sample Survey is the largest survey conducted by the AIP's Statistical Research Center (SRC) and, for the first time, the 2002 survey was completed entirely electronically. More than 19,300 individuals, approximately one-fourth of the U.S. members of the AIP's Member Societies, were selected on the basis of a stratified random sample and asked to report their salary and employment data as of October 2002 in this survey. Nearly 11,600 responded, for a 60% response rate, after three e-mail requests.

The data represent responses from members of the American Physical Society, Optical Society of America, Acoustical Society of America, The Society of Rheology, American Association of Physics Teachers, American Crystallographic Association, American Astronomical Society, American Association of Physicists in Medicine, AVS Science and Technology Society, and American Geophysical Union. The SRC conducts research and provides survey services. Within the research portion of its mission, The SRC collects, analyzes, and disseminates data on education and employment in physics and related fields. The next Membership Sample Survey will be conducted in 2004.

Other sources for physics salary information

• State Level Information - A list of state labor departments that collect data on the technological workforce in their states.
• AAPM Salary Survey - Survey of members of the American Association for Physicists in Medicine.   For more information, contact Julius Dollison.
• Broadening the Base: High School Physics Education at the turn of a New Century -   Salary Data on Physicists and Teachers working in high schools. For more information, contact Mark McFarling.