Automation: Salary Survey Results for 2007

The results of our 2007 salary survey are in. As you can imagine, it's a pretty time consuming task to tally these results properly. Unfortunately, we only have the results compiled for the U.S. at this time. Thanks to everyone who participated.

The typical respondent was virtually no different than our 2005 salary survey respondent...a Caucasian, male Automation/Control engineer from the Midwest region in the U.S. His average age is 43.6. He has a college degree in either electrical engineering or electrical engineering technology. He has 18 years of experience and has worked for his present employer less than five years. The average salary was $83,623, without a bonus. The average work week was 46.8 hours and each had nearly 3 weeks of vacation per year.

An overwhelming percentage (79%) of respondents said they were either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their current job. The top three satisfaction factors include salary, feeling of accomplishment, and technical challenge. The top three benefits (excluding salary) were health insurance, pension plan/401K, and flexible working hours.

I made a few interesting observations from the survey results. I could have gone on and on here, but I'll let you draw some of your own conclusions.

Good news! In two years, the average overall salary jumped from $76,926 to $83,623...roughly a 4% increase per year.

It pays to obtain an advanced degree (or even attend some graduate school)...those with an advanced degree have a $9,993 higher annual salary ($93,631) than those with a bachelor's degree ($83,638).

The highest paying job function was Quality Control, Evaluation & Testing at $109,167. It appears that the executives have been able to justify paying high salaries when it comes to quality assurance. Next in line were General or Operations Management at $103,676 and Engineering Management at $102,574. It pays to be in management! And as you might expect, the next highest salary was associated with all those hard working (or not so hard working) outside sales guys.

The highest paid degrees were Chemical Engineering at $99,375 followed by Computer Science at $95,086.

Guess which region within the U.S. demands the highest salary. If you guessed Southern California, you're RIGHT. The average salary in Southern California is $91,810. The Southern region came in second at $89,611.

Independent contractors are bringing in an average of $9,811 more per year than direct employees...that's almost a $2,500 decrease compared to 2005.

Professionals working for very small companies (fewer than 50 people) are paid higher than those working for companies with 50 to 249 people. But otherwise, the larger the company, the larger the pay.

View the Complete Salary Survey Results

If you have any comments or questions regarding our 2007 survey or results, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Rick Zabel
Vice President, Publisher
Automation.com
Rick manages the Automation.com web site business, acts as editor-in-chief, and is responsible for advertising and marketing of the web site and services. In addition, Rick works closely with advertisers to tailor online advertising campaigns that will best meet their goals. See More Details....