UK Research Salaries Ease Off

Advertised UK market research salaries from JRE to Associate Director level have fallen back slightly so far in 2006, after a steep rise in most levels in the second half of 2005. The drop, based on latest figures from MrWeb, which indexes most advertised UK MR jobs, comes despite the usual candidate shortage and a record number of job postings.

Six-monthly averages tend to rise and fall despite the very large base for calculation, the removal of outriders and other checks and balances - but viewed over time the stats show clear trends and help highlight and explain bottlenecks in the supply of candidates. The clearest long-term trend since 2000 has been the rapid rise in the salaries of those with 4 years and more of experience, while those with less than four years have seen slower rises or, in the case of SREs (2-4 years) stagnation. Depressingly, after a slight rise in the previous eighteen months, SRE salaries fell back in early 2006 to the level of 2001.

The 'Director +' category summarises a range of jobs from sub-board level directors with around 10 years' experience up to CEOs - it therefore requires careful interpretation, but is still interesting as an indicator combining two factors: the mean salary of roles at comparable level, and the balance of job ads between more junior and more senior directors. Both factors have contributed to a strong and continued rise in the figure. In particular, the number of roles paying around the £70-80,000 mark has increased in 2006.

The rise in the overall number of advertised roles reflects the continuing growth of awareness of the jobs board and the arrival of new customers, but also a greater number of roles from existing advertisers. Comparing the numbers of ads posted at each level with equivalents from the previous 6 months, the most noticeable feature is the sharp rise in ads for REs and a very slight decline in the number for SREs - however, SRE ads continue to be the biggest category and anecdotal evidence and feedback from recruiters suggest this may be down to agencies 'trying something different' - good SREs are so hard to find that many agencies are opting to recruit less experienced REs and invest in them longer term.

Apart from a brief blip in 2002, demand has consistently outstripped the supply of experienced research executives at most levels. And the most difficult roles to fill? Experienced REs and SREs, with 2-4 years' experience. We believe there's a clear message there and we don't think you have to be a top notch analyst to see it.

Mean salaries (in £) for research positions advertised on MrWeb, Jan 2004 - June 2006

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Bases, shown in brackets for each mean salary, represent the number of ads posted with specific salaries or salary ranges, minus a number manually removed from the calculation. Every ad is studied and those which are likely to bias results are not included in calculations - these include ads with very large salary ranges and more than one level of seniority indicated, for example 'SRE to AD, £25-45k'. Seniority is coded based on an individual assessment combining years' experience sought, job title and job description. * The salaries in the 'TOTAL' row are relatively meaningless but are left in as an 'index' of overall movement, with which to compare individual levels.

MrWeb's job search page is at www.mrweb.com/jobs . Today's jobs appear at www.mrweb.com/todays before coding. All analysis and opinion above is by MrWeb's Nick Thomas, who has read and checked coding on 28,000 of the 32,000 jobs posted to date (expressions of sympathy welcome). Further analysis including comments and interpretation from recruitment consultants will appear in the next edition of MRWho, due out in August - see www.mrweb.com/who for details.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.