DC Velocity - May 2015

s p ec i a lr e po rt S ALA RY SU RV EY

EXPERIENCE, EDUCATION COUNT

Job titles may carry the most weight, but many other factors influence how much an individual logistics or supply chain professional makes. The region where you work, which industry you work in, your level of education, and how long you’ve been in the business will typically play a big role in determining your salary.

Let’s start with education. Did your parents advise you to go to college so you’d make more money? They knew what they were talking about. Exhibit 2 illustrates the strong correlation between earnings and education. The average salary for respondents with only a high school diploma was $81,057. It was a big step up from there to a bachelor’s degree—the highest level of education for nearly half the survey respondents. The average salary for survey participants who had earned a bachelor’s degree was $125,221.

Experience in the field also influences earnings, as shown in Exhibit 3. The median—or mid-point—salary of newcomers to the profession (those with five or fewer years of experience in logistics) was $76,000, and for those with six to 10 years’ experience, $66,500. Those figures jumped by at least $15,000 for the more experienced logistics professionals in our survey—respondents with 11 to 15 years’ experience earned a median $91,500 and those with 16 to 20 years, $88,500. The most seasoned workers of all earned quite a premium for their experience, reporting a median salary of $95,000 (for those with 21 to 25 years under their belts) and $111,000 (for those with more than 25 years).

The industry you work in can also have a tremendous impact on your salary, as Exhibit 4 shows. The high-est-paying industries included transportation equipment ($243,320), chemicals and allied products ($168,556), and apparel and footwear ($156,125). On the opposite end of the scale were automotive ($87,968), paper and allied products ($80,625), and contract warehousing ($77,129).

There have always been significant differences in pay
scales across the various geographic regions, and that
continues to be true, as Exhibit 5 makes clear. The highest
average pay, $122,636, was in New England. Close behind
were the South ($119,958), the Middle Atlantic ($118,788),
and the West ($117,902). The laggard on the list was the
Southeast, which came in below $100,000 with an average
salary of just $96,103.

AGE HAS ITS REWARDS

An array of other factors can have an influence on salaries. Our survey found that a respondent’s age and gender, and the size of the company he or she works for can also make a difference.

Industry Average salary 2015

Apparel and footwear $156,125

Automotive $87,968

Chemicals and allied products $168,556

Consumer packaged goods $109,543

Contract warehousing $77,129

Electronic and electrical equipment and components $108,390

Food and grocery $99,163

Furniture and fixtures $99,067

Government and military $89,357

Lumber and wood products $95,000

Paper and allied products $80,625

Pharmaceutical and health care $104,437

Printing, publishing, and allied industries $97,432

Third-party logistics services $110,109

Transportation equipment $243,320

Transportation services $97,477

Wholesale/Retail $118,429

EXHIBIT 4

Salary by industry
What makes you happy … or not?

As part of our annual salary survey, we asked respondents how they feel about their profession: Are they satisfied with their choice? Would they recommend it to others? What do they like most about their jobs? What do they like least? Here’s a quick look at what they had to say.

b Supply chain jobs are among the best available, thanks to new challenges every day, teams of skilled coworkers, and average salaries parked solidly in the six-figure range, readers say.

b Asked what they liked most about the logistics profes-
sion, respondents cited its variety of responsibilities and
projects, and its fast pace. “Challenging yet rewarding,
and [I enjoy] getting to lead teams and shape careers,”
one respondent said. Another person wrote that he or she
enjoyed “Putting pieces together to look at the big picture
and solve complex problems.” And a third person loved the
social aspect of work, saying, “Meeting a diverse demo-
graphic across the industry makes the job a lot of fun.”