Bannockburn, Ill. — Association Connecting Electronics Industries® has published IPC Wage and Salary Report for the North American EMS Industry 2008-2009. The 60-page report aggregates the results from 129 U.S. and Canadian EMS facilities who participated in the association’s biennial wage and salary survey in the final months of 2009. Mean and median wages, salaries, bonuses and commissions are reported for 31 specific positions, including technical, administrative, management and sales positions.

 

“This peer-to-peer study gives our members the means to compare their compensation levels and benefits to other EMS companies in the same regions and size tiers, giving them a competitive advantage,” said Sharon Starr, IPC director of market research. “Benefit consulting firms charge thousands of dollars for broader, less targeted salary studies, but IPC members have access to highly relevant data just for making the small investment of time to complete the survey.” Starr adds that IPC member companies that did not participate in the study may purchase the report for only $475.

 

The study’s findings reflect current economic conditions. The U.S. economy has been in recession since end of 2007 and the unemployment rate has passed the 10 percent mark. According to IPC’s 2008–2009 wage and salary study, EMS salary increases reported for 2009 averaged 1.9 percent for hourly and management employees, and 1.7 percent for salaried employees. In contrast, IPC’s previous EMS salary studies from 2002 through 2007 reported average (mean) annual increases in the range of 3.0 to 3.5 percent.

 

Benefit costs in 2008–2009, as reported in the new study, climbed significantly to an average of 22.7 percent of total wages, up from 16.8 percent in 2007. The new IPC study found that average work hours remained the same from the year 2007, at 40 hours per week.

 

A few changes in benefits were also noted in the 2008–2009 study. For example, a declining percentage of companies, approximately seventy-five percent, are paying 100 percent of employees’ life insurance premiums.

 

Companies that participated in the study receive IPC’s wage and salary report for free. Other companies may purchase the report by visiting www.ipc.org/ems-wage-salary-report.