The PayScale Index (US): Trends in Compensation

2012: Similar to the oil and gas industry, wage growth in the utilities industry has been outstanding. Wages in Q1 2012 ended up 1.7 percent above the previous quarter and almost 4 percent higher than Q1 2011.

2007-2011: The utilities industry is the less-volatile cousin of mining, oil and gas exploration. Employees in this industry primarily work on electricity generation and gas pipeline operation. Many also work in water and sewer plant operation; however, because the majority of these workers are not privately employed, only a small percent are included in The PayScale Index calculations.

This group of private-industry utilities employees has enjoyed greater wage growth than most other industries’ workers since 2007. Wages grew dramatically in 2007 and 2008 then fell sharply in 2009. But, they remained well above national wage trends, eventually rising modestly again in 2010. After dipping a bit in Q2 2011, utilities wages went on to climb more than 1 percent in Q3, then another 1.5 percent in Q4, ending 2011 up 2 percent year-over-year.

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The utilities industry (22), as defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), includes the following: electric power and natural gas generation and distribution, water supply and irrigation systems, sewage treatment systems, steam and air-conditioning supply. 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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