At the recent Summit STC shared an early look at this year's Salary Database, with a brief summary and some of the charts and maps that will be highlighted in the upcoming publication.
This unique, member-exclusive publication, now in its seventh year, has become a highly valued resource for job-hunters and hiring managers in evaluating salary offers and recruiting strategies as well as for independent consultants and project managers estimating labor costs, location strategies, and industry analysis.
This year’s data offers new insights how the emerging recovery has and will continue to influence the demand for technical writers. The most dramatic story is the growing importance of export markets to the U.S. economy. Many industries with the strongest foreign demand were also among those reporting the largest net increases in technical writer employment in 2012. These include industrial equipment manufacturers, engineering and managerial service providers, and electronic market wholesalers and brokers. Demonstrating the role technical writers are playing in helping to address the “skills gap,” private sector educational support services and employment services, which includes temporary help, also made the top ten industries with the largest job gains for technical writers.
On the downside, after five consecutive gains in technical writer employment, the public sector reported declines with both federal and state governments reducing technical writer positions. A third consecutive annual decline in the number of technical writers employed by computer and peripheral equipment manufacturers reflects continued weak retail sales for those products and still-tight credit on smaller businesses.
The other main theme emerging from the 2012-2013 Salary Database is the shift from traditionally large markets for technical writers both regionally and by industry. Only five of the industry sectors with the largest job gains in 2012 were not even among the top 20 in terms of total employment. Similar trends appeared in the geographic distribution of technical writer jobs. Four of the states with the largest number of technical writers reported declines in employment in 2012. Of the ten states reporting the largest job increases only one, New Jersey, was also in the top ten largest employers. Four states with the largest gains technical writer in employment were not even in the top 20.
The full report will be available free to all members later in the year, but we invite everyone to review the preview report today.