Eighth Annual Salary Survey

Abstract

Median salary is $46,204. Salary growth stalls; gender gap shows signs of narrowing. Following increases reported in recent years, overall salary growth in the public relations profession has stalled, according to results of Public Relations Journal's Eighth Annual Salary Survey. The median public relations salary in 1993 is $46,204, a slight drop from the 1992 median salary of $46,556. In contrast, overall salary growth in 1992 rose 6.5%. However, several bright spots were revealed by the survey analysis. Practitioners at public relations firms have positive prospects for the near future in terms of billings and employment opportunities. While the gender gap persists, there may be a trend toward male-female parity at lower executive levels. And, women appear to be making inroads into several specialty areas once dominated by men. These 1993 figures are based on 2,536 responses to a survey mailed to 6,027 PRJ subscribers, a 42% response rate. The results can be projected to the PRJ readership as a whole, but not necessarily to the entire public relations profession, or to those who are not PRJ subscribers or readers. The margin of error on this sample is |+ or -~3%. All the percentages in this article were tested for statistical significance (see Survey method and sample description). Heads stay above water Although salary growth stalled, practitioners did manage to keep ahead of inflation last year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices rose 3% in 1992, compared to 4.2% in 1991. This translates to a 29% decrease in the rate of inflation. The highest median salary, $51,469, is at corporations. This amount is 26% higher than the median salary of $40,814 reported for government/health care/non-profit organizations. But, the median salary of $49,450 at public relations firms is only 4% less than the median at corporations; an improvement over last year's comparison. According to the results of last year's survey, respondents at corporations earned 12% more than their counterparts at firms. This year's survey found that salaries grew faster at public relations firms (up 6%), compared to corporations (down 2%) or non-profits (down 1%). Corporate salaries highest Corporations pay the most at the account executive and supervisory levels. The median salary for account executives in corporations is $35,715. This is TABULAR DATA OMITTED 23% higher than the median salary found at public relations firms ($29,016) and 20% higher than the median salary found at non-profits ($29,677). The $35,715 median salary for account executives at corporations is about the same as last year's median of $35,724, while salaries at non-profits dropped 2%. At the account executive level, the only salary growth was registered among respondents working for public relations firms. Their median salary is 3% higher than last year. Among account supervisors, the highest median salaries are also at corporations. The $55,480 median salary reported by these respondents is 11% higher than the median salary among account supervisors at firms ($49,877) and 30% higher than the median salary for supervisors at non-profits ($42,716). However, salaries for supervisors among corporations declined 4% this year, while the median salary for supervisors working for non-profits declined 8%. At public relations firms, the median salary among supervisors remained about the same. At senior management levels, the highest median salary is found among respondents in the non-profit areas ($68,468), up 7% from last year. Senior management salaries at corporations dropped by 19%, to $62,613. And senior management salaries at public relations firms, at $66,467, are 3% less than those at non-profits, but up 4% compared to last year. Some of these changes may be due to the relatively small number of survey respondents in senior management levels at corporations (n=32) and non-profit organizations (n=26). …