NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Salaries in the genomics space appear to be hovering at about the same level as they were a year ago, according to respondents to GenomeWeb's annual salary survey.
Overall, survey respondents reported making a higher median salary than they did five years ago, though compared to last year's results median salaries in the space appear to be flat. For example, respondents that identified themselves as vice presidents, directors, or senior managers reported making a median $150,000, as they also did last year. In addition, staff scientists reported a median $77,500 this year, comparable to, if slightly higher than, last year's report of median salaries in the range of between $50,000 and $74,999. And in 2011, staff scientists reported a median salary falling between $75,000 and $99,999. (In this year's survey, respondents wrote in their salary; in past years, they selected a salary range.)
To compile this data, GenomeWeb emailed a link to an online survey to its registered users in May, and a second email about 10 days later. In total, 1,131 people responded to the survey questions. Responses came from employees in industry, academia, research institutes, nonprofits, and diagnostic labs, among others.
When the data is broken down by gender, women this year reported a median salary of $82,000, compared to a median $101,000 reported by men. However, in certain roles — namely as lab technician and associate, assistant, or adjunct professors, women reported slightly higher median incomes than men did.
While few respondents reported having a pay cut — 4.7 percent — or being laid off — 3.9 percent — in the past year, nearly half said that their organization had gone through layoffs. In the past two years, though, a slightly larger percentage of respondents reported having had a pay cut — 6.7 percent in 2012 and 6.3 percent in 2011. This year, 13 percent of industry respondents reported a pay cut, while 6.5 percent and 4.1 percent of government and academic respondents, respectively, did. However, in 2011, more than 11 percent of government and of academic respondents said they had had a pay cut while 6.2 percent of industry respondents did.
In addition, 40.7 percent of all respondents said they plan to leave where they are for a new job within the next two years, with 10.7 percent saying they plan to move on within six months, similar to the past two years.
Number of Respondents
1,131
(Click any image to enlarge.)
Datapoints
47.8% of all respondents have a PhD, DPhil, or PharmD
19.1% of academic respondents are tenured
12.3% of untenured academic respondents said that they expect to get tenure within the next 5 years
7.6% of all respondents said that their last employer is no longer in business
0.6% of all respondents are unemployed
42.1% of all respondents said that they have been at their current job for 1 year to 4 years
6.4% of all respondents said that they get ownership of patents for anything they invent
Most common benefits
Vacation and holiday time
Medical/dental insurance
Sick days/sick leave
Retirement plan, including 401(k)s, 403(b)s, pensions
Most common scientific task
Administrative work/management
Biostatistics/data analysis
Product development/technology transfer
DNA sequencing/RNA sequencing
Computing infrastructure/applications development
