2012 IW Salary Survey: Readers Sound Off

Survey respondents share the positives and negatives about the future of U.S. manufacturing, their jobs, their salaries, the skilled-worker shortage and more.

Stock Options and Bonuses

We also have stock options and bonus[es] -- corporate/executive management (CEO, COO, CFO, President, GM, etc.) in the automotive/transportation vehicles & equipment industry with 26-plus years of experience, living in the Middle Atlantic region and earning $215,000

Very satisfied with job, salary, etc. Not at all happy about the governments lack of assistance for small- to medium-size businesses. They should be helping by lowering taxes for business and providing incentives to manufacture in the U.S. instead of attacking business by class warfare. -- corporate/executive management (CEO, COO, CFO, President, GM, etc.) with 26-plus years of manufacturing experience, living in the South Atlantic region and earning $200,000

With children in school, location is important. lean/continuous improvement manager in the construction/building equipment industry with 16 to 20 years of experience, living in the North Central region and earning $86,000

American unions have virtually wiped out the ability of American manufacturers to compete with overseas suppliers. Union mentality of fighting to the very last to keep the most unqualified, underperforming, unsafe, unethical and laziest workers employed at all costs paralyzes management and demoralizes the minority of union members that have a strong work ethic and overachieve. Union mentality and union member peer pressure discourages exceptional or outstanding performance by those union workers who feel a duty to do so. quality manager in the automotive/transportation vehicles & equipment industry with 16 to 20 years of experience, living in the North Central region and earning $115,000

Unsatisfied with salary for current workload and personal performance. Looking elsewhere but difficult to change employers in today's market. lean/continuous improvement manager in the consumer goods/durables industry with 26-plus years of experience, living in the South Central region and earning $59,800

The pay for years of service is not factored in the salary when compared to a starting engineers salary. engineering manager in the automotive/transportation vehicles & equipment industry with 26-plus years of experience, living in the North Central region and earning $96,000

For awhile we lost sight of the importance of "know-how." More focus coming back to that, but we have lost a lot of experience we could have used to better shape the future. Corporate management rewards need to also be tied to the long-term sustainability of the enterprise. engineering manager in the aerospace and defense industry with 26-plus years of experience, living in the North Central region and earning $116,000

Our company is in small town; difficult to find people to work. My biggest challenge is to keep plant manned. human resources manager in the plastics and rubber products industry with 16 to 20 years of experience, living in the South Central region and earning $53,000

After age 50, you are forgotten and not taken seriously. Building expertise in an area is not being stressed enough, and the young upstarts are being promoted before they learn the job they are in effectively. engineering manager in the construction/building equipment industry with 26-plus years of experience, living in the North Central region and earning $108,000

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