2008 PMAC, MM&D and purchasingb2b salary survey

To read a PDF of this article, complete with graphs, click here.

This year marks a milestone for the salary survey that MM&D has been producing for 21 years. We have teamed up with the Purchasing Management Association of Canada (PMAC) and our sister publication Purchasing b2b to bring you the most comprehensive supply chain salary survey yet.

This new partnership adds both depth and breadth to the survey results. The survey questionnaire was sent in July 2008 to all members of PMAC, along with the distribution lists for both MM&D and Purchasing b2b. In all, we received 2,505 responses.

Because of the new scope of the survey we slightly redesigned the questionnaire, adding more questions about job satisfaction and education. We think that the results are both interesting and enlightening.

Salary shift
For 2008 the average salary (including bonuses and incentives) was $76,430. This number is down from last year’s $78,787.

But before you start blaming the economy, keep in mind that the reason could be simply that last year we asked respondents to report salary including benefits as well as bonuses.

The results of our question on raises certainly reinforces that supposition: Respondents reported an average 5.5 percent salary increase in the past year. Men said they had received an average raise of 6.5 percent, while women reported increases of 5.3 percent. That’s an 18 percent difference.

The perpetual discrepancy between male and female salaries continues in pace with the unequal raises. Our male respondents reported an
average of $81,962; women came in at $67,814. That’s a 21 percent difference between the sexes—the same as last year.

When we look at salaries based on both sex and years of experience, the disparities grow. At the bottom of the career ladder, male respondents with five years of experience or less reported an average salary of $63,927 while women in the same group were paid only $58,225. That’s a 9.8 percent bonus.

By mid-career, with 16 to 20 years of experience, the men are making $93,375, and the women $75,670. That’s a difference of 23 percent. And finally, looking at career peaks, at 26 to 30 years of experience there is a 55 percent differential. (For the complete picture, see chart Salary by Sex and Experience on page 29.)

No matter how you slice the data, women are still getting short-changed in the money game.

Regionally, 2008 has seen a significant salary shift to the West. Salary averages in Alberta have climbed from 2007’s $82,248 to this year’s $84,255, an increase of 2.4 percent. By contrast, Ontario declined from $84,057 to $77,640. (See chart Salary by Region on page 27.)
In the average salaries for various job groups there are more gainers than losers when comparing 2007 to 2008. The winners are: managers, engineers/professionals, supervisors, HR and training staff, and clerical administrative workers.

Posting lower averages this year were executives, consultants and operations staff. (See chart Salary by Classification on page 23). By contrast, the two biggest salary gainers in 2007 were the executive group and the operations group.