R&D Magazine’s annual career satisfaction and salary survey has few
surprises but reveals consistent improvements in the state of researchers’
monetary and psychological well-being.
Scientists and engineers working in research labs saw their salaries improve by nearly twice the inflation rate on average in 2006, while receiving substantial bonuses over the same period for their work. From a career standpoint, most researchers’ opinions of their positions, their employers, and their career goals have remained both similar and strongly positive over the past three years.
These and other conclusions were gleaned from R&D Magazine’s 10th Annual Salary and Career Survey. The 2007 edition of this report is based on 1) a Web-based reader survey on researchers’ job satisfaction and career goals—this survey was performed in January 2007 with more than 500 responses—and 2) a mail survey sponsored by R&D Magazine and performed by Abbott Langer & Associates, Crete, Ill., on U.S. researchers’ 2005/6 salary and total compensation levels. This survey was performed in August 2006 with more than 400 responses from more than 100 organizations.
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