The 2010-2011 edition of the STC Salary Database (using 2010 data) is now available for purchase! STC’s Salary Database is a tool that can be used to conduct more powerful job searches, make a strong case for a raise, prepare department payroll budgets, or estimate project costs. The data in the Salary Database are drawn from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Occupational Employment Statistics (OES).
As many of our members have seen first-hand, 2010 was not a kind year to technical communication. Data in the Salary Database back that up, showing a net loss of over 2,000 technical writing jobs during the 12 months surveyed by the BLS.
But where were those jobs lost? And more importantly, where were the job gains—what industries and what geographic locations? Equally important to STC members, while the total number of technical writing jobs declined in 2010, overall average and median salaries actually rose. In what industries and regions were technical writers able to command higher wages despite a down market?
The STC Salary Database is an extremely useful tool whether you’re looking for a job, looking for a worker, or looking to bolster your request for a raise. Consider the following situations:
- A laid-off technical writer can use the Salary Database to find out the dozen-plus industries that added jobs last year, targeting her search in those areas. And with telework more prevalent, she can even search in the geographic areas where the most new jobs have been created.
- A manager wants to create a technical writing department but doesn’t know where to start. The Salary Database shows her both average and median salaries in her area, plus percentiles that allow her to prepare a budget that her supervisors approve.
- A consultant is putting together a bid on a project. Using the Salary Database, the consultant can make intelligent estimates as to how much the project will cost him.
- Denied a raise last year, a technical writer comes armed with data from the Salary Database showing that the average salary in his industry is much higher for technical writers than for the more generic “writers and authors” his company had been using.
The Salary Database includes information on both annual and hourly wages, making it useful to both salaried employees and contractors, not to mention managers needing to offer fair wages to both. It includes salary information for 174 metropolitan areas, every state, and all 151 industries and industry subsectors that employed technical writers in the past two years.
Because the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics, from which the Salary Database was drawn, is one of the most referenced wage guides by human resource professionals, STC members who use this tool will benefit from the same market intelligence that are relied upon when employers evaluate raises and make salary offers to new hires. The STC Salary Database not only provides firm numbers to back up fair requests and fair offers, giving technical communicators the insight they need in a tough job market, it also provides users with a competitive edge. Visit www.stc.org/publications/salary-database for more information or to purchase the 2010-2011 Salary Database.