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Compensation trended up during our tough times—and up is better, right?

This is IMM’s sixth annual salary survey, and an upward trend, though it is modest, has become evident—even including one downturn year. The average 2006 salary among the molding, moldmaking, design, and management pros responding to our survey was $80,100, up from $78,500 in last year’s report on 2005 salaries. Considering the difficulties in our sector over the last six years, this can pass for good news. Not great, but not bad either.

Though this research project is titled a salary survey, there is more to it than straight earnings. You can see the stats on the following pages for earnings by job function, size of company, experience, location, and more. On the next page are some points to help you better understand the numbers that follow, and to help you see if you’re around the average, or in a realm all your own:

• Overall job satisfaction across the board is the same as last year, 3.9 on a scale where 5 is very satisfied. This doesn’t vary among custom or captive molders, moldmakers, and product designers. About 8% of respondents were dissatisfied enough to be actively looking for a new job and 19% are “strongly considering” moving on.

• Roughly two out of three of you got raises last year, and the boost averaged 4.9%, slightly down from last year’s 5.3%. (Note to the statisticians: Our “average” is the arithmetic mean.)

Those responding are generally both well educated and experienced. Almost three in four have 10 or more years in the industry and greater than 40% have 20 years or more plastics experience. Nearly 57% graduated college, and 14% have postgrad degrees. Average age of our respondents is 48.

• Tell your kids: Education counts. Those with some postgrad study or an advanced degree average $95,800 vs. the overall average of $80,100 and $63,000 for those who never attended college.

• We may not honor age as much as some other parts of the world, yet the average salary for those 55 and older is $86,900, ratcheting down to $65,600 for those younger than 35. Salaries relative to years in the industry are similarly sized and distributed.

• We noted last year that the lowest job satisfaction was among the engineers—production, manufacturing, and process. It’s still true. The engineers collectively are at 3.3 on the 0-5 scale, a tenth lower than last year and well below the overall mean of 3.9. It may have been the size of the last raise: 3.8% vs. the average 4.9%. Only setup and maintenance people got less (3.3%).

Take a look at Setup for a subjective look at how respondents get job satisfaction other than compensation, and what industry trends they see as impacting their future earnings.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF OF THE SALARY SURVEY RESULTS.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF OF RESPONSES TO THE QUESTION "Other than compensation, what are the most rewarding aspects of your job?".

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF OF RESPONSES TO THE QUESTION "What industry trends do you believe will affect your personal compensation during the next year, and how?".

How the survey was conducted

The survey sample of 1920 was randomly selected from IMM’s domestic circulation list and represented 24,619 total industry professionals. Data was collected via mail survey from Dec. 27, 2006 to Feb. 12, 2007. A total of 571 usable responses were received, a 30% response rate. The data are based on 482 responses received from those who report they work full-time at a captive or custom molder, parts or product designer, or a moldmaker or mold designer.