The PayScale Index (US): Trends in Compensation

2012: The lack of growth seen for earnings in the professional, scientific and tech services industry in Q1 2012 threatens to put these workers in the same place they were in 2010 – stuck with stagnant wages. Wage growth was essentially nil in Q1 2012.

2007-2011: While this industry, which includes firms employing IT consultants, lawyers, accountants, and other tech and service professionals, is one pegged by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to grow briskly over the next eight years, its sensitivity to economic downturns is clear.

After running on par with national trends for The PayScale Index through Q2 2009, professional services wages showed a greater-than-average downward trend for three more quarters before stabilizing in 2010.

The net result is that wages for workers in professional services settled in about 1 percent below national averages at the start of 2010 and varied little through the end of the year. Finally, by the end of 2011, this highly-skilled group’s earnings had grown 1 percent over a year earlier.

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The professional, scientific and tech services industry (54), as defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), includes the following: legal services, accounting, architectural services, computer programming, management consulting services, advertising agencies, environmental consulting, veterinary services. View the full definition on Census.gov.

The PayScale Index tracks quarterly changes in total cash compensation for full-time, private industry employees in the United States. In addition to a national index, it includes separate indices for specific industries, metropolitan areas, job categories, and company sizes. The PayScale Index uses 2006 average total cash compensation as a baseline.

See full methodology for compensation trend reports.

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