Would you like to know how your earnings match up with peers' salaries? When it comes to quality professionals, some of that data is available from the American Society of Quality. ASQ is a professional organization serving individuals in the quality movement, with a membership exceeding 85,000.
According to ASQ's latest salary survey, based on slightly more than 9,000 responses from the United States and Canada, the average quality job salary in 2009 was slightly less than $84,000. That's a 3% increase over the previous year.
The number of years in the quality field impacted earnings. For example, for quality workers with greater than 20 years of experience, the average salary was $94,029. That's nearly a $10,000 jump over professionals with 10 to 20 years of experience, who earned an average $84,722. Professionals with 10 years or less of experience earned an average $73,271, according to the ASQ survey.
The trend of greater salaries with more experience also exists when data are looked at within specific job categories.
The survey also showed that the economy took a toll on earnings. Nearly 85% of surveyed quality respondents said steps taken as a result of the poor economy included pay cuts, salary freezes and layoffs. Almost 5% of respondents were retired or out of work.
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