Author: Katie Bardaro

Katie joined PayScale in 2008. In addition to leading the data analytics team and building and maintaining PayScale's proprietary compensation model, Katie served as PayScale's chief economist. She has provided analysis on compensation data and trends for print/online and broadcast media including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist, CNBC, CNN Money, USA Today, Forbes, and Business Insider, among others. Katie holds a bachelor's in economics from the College of the Holy Cross and a master's in economics from University of Washington, with a focus in labor economics and econometrics.

Data Visualizations

How the PayScale Index Differs from Other Economic Indicators

While the PayScale Index is often compared to the Employment Cost Index, they are not tracking the same thing, but both measures are important signals.

How Do We Calculate College ROI?

In conjunction with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, PayScale recently released our third annual College Return on Investment (ROI) Report, which evaluates the financial return for a bachelor's degree from 853 U.S. schools. With this study, we hoped to lend our voice to the related debates around the looming student debt bubble, tuition costs rising...

Romney Earned 500 Times the Average Worker in 2010

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney released his 2010 tax returns yesterday and America learned he paid an effective tax rate of 15 percent on $21.6 million of income. Slate took this information and put an interesting spin on it: "How long would it take the GOP candidate to earn what you made...

Trends in US Wages: The PayScale Index

Today we launched our fifth release of The PayScale Index, which tracks changes in the price of labor since 2006. And for the first time since 2008, wage increases are being seen across the board. Previously, wage growth winners were typically in just high-tech and energy industries, while workers in most other...

CEO Pay vs. Typical Worker Pay

We recently released an insightful bit of data that looks at the ratio of pay for Fortune 50 CEOs to the pay of employees at their respective companies. The results are unsettling — on average the Fortune 50 CEOs earn 213 times more than their workers. Who tops the list for the...

Trends in Tips

Tips are a way of life for many service industry jobs. In fact, for some jobs tips make up over 50 percent of a worker's total take-home pay. During tough economic times these workers often suffer from a decrease in their tips, both due to a decrease in consumerism and to a...

Top IT Employers

We recently released a story comparing IT Employers across several factors, such as typical pay, stress levels, typical age, gender breakdown, etc. There are some similarities across the employers (e.g. they pay well compared to the typical U.S. employer, they offer generally more flexible schedules, etc.), however there are some stark differences....

Healthcare Hotspots

Today we published a ranking of the Top 10 Healthcare Hotspots. How did we determine these you ask? Well being salary experts, we of course factored in the median pay of healthcare jobs in these metros, but we also factored in the relative prevalence of healthcare jobs in these metros compared to...

College is Not Always a Good Investment

Today, we released our annual study with Bloomberg BusinessWeek on the return on investment (ROI) in education for 691 bachelor's degree granting schools. As college costs continue to rise, the justification for paying these costs becomes ever more important. What better justification is there but a measure of their future payoff? In...

Salary Madness: NCAA Brackets by Salary

It's the Monday after Selection Sunday, which means we now know the NCAA division I basketball teams heading to the big dance. As everyone gets ready to fill out their brackets, we here at PayScale wish to offer an alternative method to determining who will take home the top honors. What if the...

PayScale Index: What is an Index Anyway?

We at PayScale recently released the Q4 2010 results for the PayScale Index. See a previous blog post describing the Index and another one that compares the PayScale Index to other common measures of labor market health. However, a common question posed by our readers in response to our release was, "What...

Tipping Etiquette: Who should you tip and how much?

During the holiday season, the notion of tipping those who provide you service becomes a hot topic. However, it is important to remember that tips are a year-round affair for many. The questions that plague most people are: "Who do I tip?" and "How much do I tip them?" Fear not, for...

Political Winners and Losers

Does it pay to be in Congress? According to our recent study, yes it does! By using our extensive salary database, we at PayScale compared the pay earned by Congress Members and Obama's Cabinet to the typical pay they could earn based on their educational background (School attended, Highest Degree Obtained, and...

Do You Have One of America’s Best Jobs?

We recently completed our annual project with CNN/Money Magazine that ranks the 100 Best Jobs in America. These jobs were determined by numerous factors, including pay, job growth, estimated employment levels, and various quality-of-life factors, such as job security. The top jobs are a mix: some allow a lot of schedule flexibility...

Does a 2nd Choice School mean 2nd Rate Pay?

As high school seniors spent April sorting through their college acceptance letters and deciding where to attend school, they may now be lamenting the fact they were rejected by their top choice college or university. However, a recent article in The Daily Beast finds people who don't attend their top choice school...

Majors by Gender: Is It Bias or the Major That Determines Future Pay?

The discussion of pay differences across gender is a hot topic. We addressed this topic recently in a project with the New York Times Economix Blog, as well as in our own data package on the gender wage gap. In these studies, we controlled for compensable factors (experience, education, specialty, company size,...

Jobs That Make Our World a Better Place

The Thanksgiving holiday is a time to give thanks and recognize the people who contribute to our well-being. These people include the teachers who impart wisdom on our children, the doctors who ensure our health, and volunteers who are vital to the success of our social programs. In fact, there are many...

Women Earn Less Than Men, But Why?

In a recent project with Catherine Rampell at the New York Times Economix Blog, we examine the pay differential between men and women across a set of 90 jobs. Numerous studies have looked at the gender wage gap, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the New York Times, and the Census....

4-Year vs. 2-Year College Degrees: How Does the Pay Compare?

With the rising cost of four-year colleges, people may ask themselves whether the salary promised by a bachelor's degree is really worth the time and money required to complete the program. Why not complete an associate's degree program, and enter the workforce sooner and (mostly) free of debt? Using the extensive PayScale...

Is Your Job One of the Best in America?

In a recent project with CNN/Money Magazine, we looked at all the factors, not just pay, that go into making the 100 Best Jobs in America. Is there a lot of growth in the field? Is the job low stress? Does it offer scheduling flexibility? And how many positions are even available? The...

Dream Jobs: Fun Opportunities After a Layoff

Post by Katie Bardaro, Research Analyst, PayScale, Inc. With thousands of lay-offs, and a hiring freeze at many employers over the last few years, now is a good time to consider concentrating your job search efforts on a "dream job." Dream jobs require little or no formal training to get started, and...

Generation Y: What Is a Lot of Money?

[Note: This blog post was updated in February of 2011 to reflect more current salary numbers. For updated information, see PayScale’s Career Research Center.] People in my generation (Generation Y) expect to earn high pay after college graduation, but is this realistic? According to an article by CNN.com, those in Generation Y...

MBA Schools: Whose Graduates Earn High Salaries?

Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programs promise expanded career opportunities and the potential to bring home the big bucks. Lindsey Gerdes at BusinessWeek recently worked with us on an intriguing story about pay for MBA graduates. Using BusinessWeek's Ranking of the top 45 business schools, we looked in our data to see...

Six Figure Jobs with No 4-year Degree

Logging years in school, not to mention shelling out thousands of dollars, can be a long and expensive way to increase your potential salary. However, there are several jobs where you can make a six figure salary without obtaining a college education. We recently worked with Klaus Kneale at Forbes Magazine on...