specialreport SALARY SURVEY
EXHIBIT 1
EXHIBIT 2
Title
President
Corporate officer
Vice president
Director
Manager
Supervisor
Median salary -
2010
$150,000
$115,000
$145,000
$109,500
$76,500
$55,000
Median salary -
2009
$120,000
$137,000
$144,000
$104,000
$76,000
$57,000
Supply Chain Recruiters has seen in the market. There’s no
doubt that the downturn threw many out of work, he says,
but overall salaries have not changed. “If anything, they
may have increased because of the higher level of sophisti-
cation that the companies are demanding,” Jacobson says.
“Even smaller and mid-sized companies need the same
level of sophistication as bigger companies, and that push-
es salaries up.”
But not everyone was so fortunate. Some 20 percent of
the survey respondents reported that their salaries had
dropped from the previous year. That’s a significantly high-
er percentage than we’ve seen in past surveys— 14 percent
in the 2009 survey and 3 percent in the 2008 edition.
Industries particularly hard hit include transportation
services, third-party logistics (3PL) services, and wholesale/retail. The survey showed that 32 percent of respondents working in transportation services were making less
than they were a year earlier. Similarly, 22 percent of
respondents from the third-party logistics services sector
and 19 percent from the wholesale/retail industry said their
pay had declined. (See Exhibit 2 for median salaries by
industry.)
The survey also found a correlation between shrinking
paychecks and company size, with workers at smaller companies more likely than others to be feeling the pain. One-third of all respondents who work at companies with fewer
than 100 employees saw their compensation drop in the
past 12 months. By contrast, only 12 percent of respondents
from very large companies ( 5,000 employees or more) took
a hit in pay.
Industry Median
salary
Contract warehousing $60,000
Paper and allied products $62,500
Printing, publishing, and allied products $67,500
Lumber and wood products $73,250
Automotive $74,500
Transportation services $75,000
Pharmaceutical and health care $76,000
Furniture and fixtures $80,000
Food and grocery $87,600
Wholesale/retail $88,250
Chemical and allied products $90,000
Apparel and footwear $92,000
Electronic and electrical equipment & components $92,000
Government and military $95,000
Third-party logistics services $98,250
Consumer packaged goods $99,000
EXHIBIT 3
Years
0-5
6-10
11-15
16-20
21-25
More than 25
Median salary
$58,500
$77,000
$83,000
$89,660
$91,340
$98,500
Wanted: Jack of all trades
In addition to salary cuts, last year saw a rash of layoffs as
companies desperately tried to trim costs to offset weak
sales. As jobs were cut, however, that work didn’t necessarily go away. Instead, companies asked their remaining
employees to do more.
One result is that jobs are being combined in new and
unusual ways. “We are seeing an interesting phenomenon in
the industry. Due to the economy and reduced head count,
companies are combining skill sets that don’t normally go
together,” says Jacobson. For example, Jacobson says he’s
seen some clients combine sourcing/purchasing positions
with planning and transportation positions. One even com-
bined responsibility for its co-packing operation with
responsibility for sourcing and transportation.
