What are the fastest growing industries for technical communicators? Which ones are posting the sharpest declines? Where are salaries increasing the most? How much should you expect to make if you apply for a job in another city? The answers to these and other questions asked by job seekers and project planners can be found in STC’s 2009–2010 Salary Database report (using 2009 data).
STC’s Salary Database is a tool that can be used to conduct more powerful job searches, make a strong case for a raise, or prepare department payroll budgets. The data in the Salary Database are drawn from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment Statistics (OES).
Starting in 2010 (with the 2009 data), the Salary Database is an à la carte item, available for purchase by members and nonmembers. The PDF members are used to is priced at $10 for members and $49 for nonmembers. In addition, this year STC has responded to requests and has also compiled three Excel spreadsheets with the original data for those who wish to be able to format the data in other ways. Those spreadsheets are available for $10 each ($49 for nonmembers) or get all four items—the PDF and three spreadsheets—for $30 total ($149 for nonmembers).
The spreadsheets are broken down into three categories:
- The Geographic Series (states/territories, Combined Statistical Areas, Metropolitan Statistical Areas, and Nonmetropolitan Statistical Areas)
- The Industry Series (major industry groups, industry groups, and industry subsectors, as defined by North American Industrial Classification System [NAICS] codes)
- The Profession Series (comparing technical writers to four competing professions for 2007 through 2009)
STC Consulting Economist Richard O'Sullivan provides a year-in-review analysis of the labor markets for technical writers, and a series of maps displays the regional changes in technical writer employment and wages from the previous year.
Special sneak peek for blog readers!
I can't give much away, but here's an interesting little tidbit from the new comparison of technical writer to other competing professions. Check out this graphic displaying the median salaries for technical writers and select other professions in the top ten states! Then visit the STC website for more information or to purchase the Salary Database.
As I understand it, much of the current salary data on BLS has a vintage of May 2009. Can someone explain why, for the 2010 benefit year, we are receiving reporting on this data in late November 2010? This gives us a good 18 month lag behind the data vintage, in a rather turbulent economy. Are there plans to tighten this up, or is it the nature of the beast that takes 6 months to crunch the data? It’s an honest question based on my actual experience with contract rates and job salaries back in mid-2009 vs today (they don’t align).
Thanks for the comment. The entire database is 2009 data and the product has always been for the previous year. The BLS is currently collecting the 2010 data, as the year is not over yet. The BLS releases the previous years’ data in May or June of each year. Following that, STC Consulting Economist Richard O’Sullivan examines and evaluates the data, and there is production time involved as well; the graphic layout actually takes a great deal of time. Previously we’ve had the results available by August, but we were unable to keep to that schedule this year due to personnel constraints. While it still, by necessity, is the previous year’s data, as any collected data would be, we work with what the government releases and when they do so.
What are the plans for securing accurate statistics for countries other than the United States?
Per Lloyd Tucker, STC Deputy Executive Director:
We are working to get release of the Canadian data. They are required to collect the information by NAFTA, but they have not been willing so far to release it. We continue to work that issue with the help of Canadian members. We are also working on securing UK info.
Does the STC salary database include the updated/corrected data from BLS (see http://www.bls.gov/bls/eci_corrections_111910.htm). And what exactly is the difference between the STC salary database and the data from the BLS (for example http://www.bls.gov/oes/2009/may/oes273042.htm)? What value do I get for my $49?
I emailed STC Consulting Economist Rick O’Sullivan to answer your questions, as he compiled and evaluated the data. His response to your first question: “The Employment Cost Index (ECI), which is published twice per year, is a different program from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) from which the Salary Database is drawn. It collects data on total compensation which includes wages and benefits such as health insurance coverage, vacation and holiday pay, etc. But the data is much more highly aggregated. There are no statistics on technical writers. In fact, the level of published occupational data do not go below ‘Professional and Managerial Occupations,’ which combines millions of workers in all professions and management occupations.” He also clarified that, “According to the ECI press release, the data corrections were limited to salaries and wages for service occupations for state and local government workers and benefits for civilian public administration officials. The professional services data was not affected.”
Regarding the difference between the STC Salary Database and the BLS data and the value, he wrote, “To compile any kind of detailed data for multiple markets or industries would require downloading comma-delimited ASCII files that are several megabytes in size. The user would then have to extract the data just for technical writers. These data would then have to be parsed, reformatted, and transferred into Excel files for any kind of manipulation.” Rick also provides his expert analysis on what the data means and what trends he sees. “The report includes detailed geographic and industry analyses of the most recent year’s data with suggestions as to how these data could be used both for individual job searches and by recruiters.”
One correction, too: Member cost for the database is $10, not $49. Factor in how long you’d have to search the BLS website and compile the data, and the STC Salary Database shows its value in the time you’d save having the data organized for you.
Thanks for the detailed responses! Two follow-up questions….
1. Is this the OES data (from May 2009) that the STC salary database uses: http://www.bls.gov/oes/2009/may/oes273042.htm
2. Does the 2010 Excel tables include any sort of macros or wizard/forms that would allow me to create custom reports? Similar to the BLS OES site: http://data.bls.gov:8080/oes/search.jsp?data_tool=OES
Or is it just the raw data? I looked at the 2009 reports, but they’re all in PDF and don’t allow for any specific analysis.
Tx
-R
I emailed Rick again; his responses are below.
1. Yes. However, in much more detail than the top line data cited in that link.
2. The Excel files are formatted exactly like the PDF. In fact, the PDF document is made from the Excel worksheets. But the Excel files are searchable and can execute the database functions.
STC is considering the possibility (obviously, no promises!) of creating macros and/or custom search engines for the Salary Database. But before doing so, we would like to learn more about how members are using the information. What do you intend to do with the Salary Database and what kinds of macros were you contemplating?