News
Salary growth slows for industrial physicists
by Raymond Y. Chu
pdf version of this article
 The
rise in salaries earned by industrial physicists slowed between
2002 and 2004, according to data from a recent biennial survey conducted
by the American Institute of Physics (AIP). The median salary reported
by Ph.D. physicists in the private sector rose 4% between October
2002 and March 2004 (Figure 1). Ph.D.’s working in industry
and who belong to AIP’s 10 Member Societies reported a median
salary of $104,000 in March 2004, up from $100,000 in the October
2002 survey. The percentage growth in salaries for industrial Ph.D.’s
continues to exceed the 3.3% inflation rate measured by the Consumer
Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) during the same 18-month
period between the two surveys. Although the increase in median
salary outpaced the inflation rate, the momentum of growth dropped
off. When the rates of salary change are adjusted to an annual basis,
the increase is 2.7% a year between 2002 and 2004 compared to an
annual increase of 4.3% between 2000 and 2002. For comparison, respondents
to the 2004 survey of the American Chemical Society (ACS) also reported
a smaller increase in industrial Ph.D. salaries—3.2% annualized
between 2002 and 2004, which is down from 4.6% a year between 2000
and 2002.
Overall, the typical salaries for
industrial physicists, which represent
the 25th and 75th percentiles
of the wages reported, ranged
from $85,000 to $127,000. The
typical salary range covers the
middle portion of earnings, that
is, one-quarter of the salaries fall
below and one-quarter are above
this range. Physicists in industry
who earned their Ph.D.’s within
the past five years had typical
salaries ranging from $72,000 to
$95,000. This group of recent
Ph.D.’s reported the same median
salary, $82,000, as their counterparts
did in 2002.
The median salary of Ph.D. society members
working in industry, $104,000, continued
to rank as the third-highest among the
employment sectors surveyed. Hospitals and
medical services paid society members
with Ph.D.’s a median salary of $120,000
in 2004. Ph.D. respondents who worked
at federally funded R&D centers reported
a median salary of $110,000. The median
amount earned by Ph.D.’s on 9- or 10-
month contracts at four-year colleges rose
to $56,000 from $55,000 two years ago.
As salary growth slowed, the unemployment
rate went up slightly. Unemployment
among society members with
Ph.D.’s rose to 1.7% in 2004, up from
the 1.2% reported in 2002. Ph.D. members
of AIP Member Societies continued
to have stronger employment than
Ph.D.’s in general, however. The Labor
Department reported in its March 2004
Current Population Study that unemployment
for Ph.D.’s that month was
2.2%, up from 1.6% in 2002. AIP survey
respondents who earned their doctorates
within the past 10 years reported an unemployment
rate of 2.3%, up from 2.0% in
2002. Ph.D. chemists reported a 3.1%
unemployment rate in the 2004 ACS salary
survey, the same percentage as
two years ago (Figure 2).
Earnings increased
with educational attainment for AIP society
members. Among members working
in the private sector between
the ages of 35 and 44, the median
salary for Ph.D.’s was $104,000.
Those with master’s degrees
earned a median of $94,000, and
bachelor-level physicists had a
median salary of $72,000.
Geographically, the East and
West coasts continued to report
the highest typical salaries for
industrially employed Ph.D.’s.
Among the nine regions in the survey,
the Middle Atlantic (New Jersey,
New York, and Pennsylvania)
and Pacific (Alaska, California,
Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington)
states had the highest typical salary
ranges for industrial Ph.D.’s—
$90,000 to $133,000 and $92,000
to $130,000, respectively.
New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and
Vermont) and West South Central (Arkansas,
Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas) regions followed
with typical salary ranges of $84,000
to $131,000 and $85,000 to $130,000,
respectively. The Southern Atlantic region
(Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Maryland, North and South Carolina,
Virginia, and West Virginia) reported the
lowest typical salary range, $76,000 to
$120,000 (see table).
Among Ph.D. respondents working in
industry, nearly half worked in short-range
research (45%, which includes short-range
applied research, development, design, and
engineering). Members working in longrange
applied and basic research made up
21% of the Ph.D.’s in industry. Administrators
accounted for 14% of industrial Ph.D.’s.
Work activity had little impact on Ph.D.
industrial salaries except for administrators,
who reported higher salaries, in part because
of their higher experience levels.
The 10 companies that employed the
largest number of Ph.D. society members
were Science Applications International Corporation,
IBM, General Atomics, Lucent
Technologies, Eastman Kodak, General Electric,
Varian, Raytheon, Corning, and Bechtel.
These companies employ nearly 20% of the
Ph.D. physicists working in industry who
belong to AIP Member Societies.
Detailed salary tables for the 2004
data are available for purchase. The tables include
the salary data by other employment sectors.
Companies and academic departments
have used the results of the AIP Membership
Sample Survey to review organizational
pay structures and in salary negotiations.
Professionals, teachers, parents, and students
have used the AIP survey results in
making education and career decisions.
Biography
Raymond Y. Chu is a research associate in
the Statistical Research Center of the
American Institute of Physics in College
Park, Maryland. |
