The PayScale Index (US): Trends in Compensation

2012: Earnings for art and design jobs are very nearly back to where they were before the recession. With a quarter-over-quarter growth of about 0.5 percent and a year-over-year growth of 1.1 percent, wages for this job category have moved closer to catching up with the national trend line.

2007-2011: From 2007 through 2008, art and design jobs tracked the national trends for all jobs, but with more gusto. Pay was up about 4 percent in 2007, then slowed to growing a little less than 1 percent in 2008. In 2009, pay dropped sharply, losing about 2 percent from its peak. The good news came in 2010 when art and design job wages beat the national overall trends and ended the year up about 1 percent.

2011 proved more shaky, as a strong start devolved into wobbly Q2 and Q3 performances but, in Q4, incomes for these workers grew nearly a whole percent.

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The art and design (SOC Code 27-1000.00) jobs category includes creative workers like illustrators, animators, graphic designers, art directors, and fashion designers, but not performers, filmmakers, writers or musicians. While the advertising, publishing and media industries are large employers of these professionals, they can be found anywhere there is a need for visual creativity.

The SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) system is used by Federal statistical agencies to classify workers into occupational categories for the purpose of collecting, calculating, or disseminating data. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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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