If Willie Sutton were still alive and considering a career change, he might want to find work in the junior level of the public relations industry. After all, a new report
suggests that's where the money is - both in the corporate and agency sides of the industry.
Spring Associates, Inc., and PR News tracked advances in salaries and bonuses across the public relations world in their 2006 edition of "The Official PR Salary
& Bonus Report." The report, with data culled from Spring Associates' database of 16,016 PR professionals in late 2005, shows increases on both a national level and in key
metropolitan markets.
The report found that corporate PR salaries increased, on a national average, 7.6% during 2005; in 2004, the national average salary increase was 5.3%. On the agency side, the
report found salaries increased 8.9% on a national level in 2005, a significant jump from the pneumatic 3.6% increase from 2004.
However, the greatest salary percentage boosts from 2004 into 2005 came at the lower end of the industry's totem pole. Within corporate communications, the highest salary
percentage jump belonged to the junior members of the PR team, dubbed the "Communications Specialist" (who range in two-to-four years job experience). On a national level, the
salary for a Communications Specialist rose 11.7%, to an annual average of $71,000.
This national figure, however, does not include corporate communications positions in eight markets where the highest concentration of PR professionals are employed. Spring
Associates subdivided its report to reflect the distinctive changes within "Key Cities I" (New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles), where the 2005 salary rise was 8.7% and the
annual average salary is $74,000, and in "Key Cities II" (Boston, Dallas, San Francisco and Washington, DC), where the 2005 salary rise was 9.5% and the annual average salary was
$74,000.
As with the corporate side, the junior team members in agencies also took home a higher percentage of pay. On a national level, account executives in PR agencies saw their
salary percentages increase 11.8%, with an average annual salary of $47,000. Within the reports "Key Cities I" markets, the rise was 14.9% for an average $52,000 salary. In "Key
Cities II," the increase was 14.5% and the annual average salary was $52,000. In the bonus department, junior staff saw significantly higher percentage increases than their
senior managers.
This is rather marked contrast to senior level professionals who enjoyed their own salary and bonus increases - but at lower percentages than the junior staff. For example,
executive vice presidents in agencies experienced a national average raise of 5.4% while senior vice presidents in corporate communications saw a national average raise of 7.3%.
"In past years, the senior people were the ones to get higher increases," says Dennis Spring, president of Spring Associates. However, Spring notes the downsizing that
occurred during the first part of this decade has not been reversed with increased hiring.
"Given that agencies and corporate departments have fewer people handling more work, the companies are rewarding them with greater salary increase percentages than middle or
senior managers," he continues. "These junior people are the day-to-day people - they're the ones out in the trenches. So there is a big push these days to retain the good
employees by keeping them happy and keeping them paid on par with their peers."
In separating its data from a national average and the "Key Cities," the Spring Associates report also details that second-tier cities and suburban markets are catching up to
the salaries and bonuses being offered in the major markets. For Dennis Spring, this trend will continue as competition intensifies throughout the industry.
"Agencies and companies out in the hinterlands are competing with key city competition for the best help," he observes. "In the past, we used to recruit locally. But now,
they are open to recruiting people from other markets, and they're willing to relocate them and pay them on a scale they are used to. On both a national and metro level,
companies are quite aware these days that solid PR help is hard to find. When they find them, they're rewarding them."
("The Official PR Salary & Bonus Report" is available for free to PR News subscribers. For more information, contact PR News at 888.707.5814 or at https://www.prnewsonline.com/resources/salary_report.html) Contact: Dennis Spring, [email protected].
| U.S. Public Relations Agencies
Average Base Salaries By Title & Location (across all specialty categories) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Title | National
(excluding "key" cities) |
"Key" Cities I
(NY, Atlanta, Chicago, L.A.) |
"Key" Cities II
(Boston, Dallas, DC, SF) |
| Account Executive | |||
| Percent Change |
11.8%
|
14.9%
|
14.5%
|
| Average Salary Change ($) |
5,000
|
7,000
|
7,000
|
| Average Salary ($) |
47,000
|
52,000
|
52,000
|
| Senior Account Executive | |||
| Percent Change |
8.8%
|
10.7%
|
12.6%
|
| Average Salary Change ($) |
5,000
|
6,000
|
7,000
|
| Average Salary ($) |
56,000
|
63,000
|
61,000
|
| Account Supervisor | |||
| Percent Change |
7.1%
|
7.9%
|
7.4%
|
| Average Salary Change ($) |
4,000
|
5,000
|
5,000
|
| Average Salary ($) |
71,000
|
78,000
|
74,000
|
| Vice President | |||
| Percent Change |
8.4%
|
9.2%
|
9.1%
|
| Average Salary Change ($) |
8,000
|
9,000
|
8,000
|
| Average Salary ($) |
100,000
|
110,000
|
103,000
|
| Senior Vice President | |||
| Percent Change |
7.3%
|
5.5%
|
6.7%
|
| Average Salary Change ($) |
8,000
|
7,000
|
7,000
|
| Average Salary ($) |
122,000
|
136,000
|
125,000
|
| Executive Vice President | |||
| Percent Change |
5.4%
|
5.0%
|
7.3%
|
| Average Salary Change ($) |
7,000
|
8,000
|
10,000
|
| Average Salary ($) |
144,000
|
159,000
|
144,000
|
| Source: The Official PR Salary & Bonus Report c - 2006 Edition | |||
| U.S. Corporate & Marketing Communications
Average Base Salaries By Title & Location (across all specialty categories) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Title |
National
(excluding "key" cities) |
"Key" Cities I
(NY, Atlanta, Chicago, L.A.) |
"Key" Cities II
(Boston, Dallas, DC, SF) |
| Communications Specialist | |||
| Percent Change |
11.7%
|
8.7%
|
9.5%
|
| Average Salary Change ($) |
7,000
|
6,000
|
7,000
|
| Average Salary ($) |
71,000
|
74,000
|
74,000
|
| Manager | |||
| Percent Change |
8.0%
|
6.5%
|
7.9%
|
| Average Salary Change ($) |
7,000
|
6,000
|
7,000
|
| Average Salary ($) |
93,000
|
98,000
|
98,000
|
| Director | |||
| Percent Change |
7.1%
|
6.7%
|
6.8%
|
| Average Salary Change ($) |
8,000
|
8,000
|
8,000
|
| Average Salary ($) |
118,000
|
129,000
|
124,000
|
| Vice President | |||
| Percent Change |
7.0%
|
7.4%
|
7.3%
|
| Average Salary Change ($) |
9,000
|
10,000
|
10,000
|
| Average Salary ($) |
136,000
|
147,000
|
143,000
|
| Senior Vice President | |||
| Percent Change |
7.3%
|
6.4%
|
5.1%
|
| Average Salary Change ($) |
10,000
|
9,000
|
8,000
|
| Average Salary ($) |
155,000
|
166,000
|
161,000
|
| Source: The Official PR Salary & Bonus Report c - 2006 Edition | |||