Higher Salaries Fuel UK MR's 'Engine Room'

Mid-level salaries for British market researchers are continuing their rise despite fears of recession and talk of an impending slump. Figures for the first half of 2008, based on 3,500 advertised salaries on MrWeb, show higher means for SREs, Project and Research Managers, and ADs.

Senior Research Execs (SREs), often with 2-4 years' experience, have been the Cinderellas of the UK industry for some time, doing all the really hard work* and being paid very little more in 2006 than they were in 2000. Now, however, remuneration is starting to creep up, with the mean for the last six months at £29,600 - based on 600+ ads with salaries shown. The rise began in 2007 but seems to be sustained, at least for the time being.

Supply side Project Managers - the rank above SRE in our definitions and often with 3-6 years' experience, manage a number of clients and run fairly complex projects from start to finish. Their salary has risen far more than that for SREs since 2000, but continues to increase - the mean was £35,600 in 2006 and is now around £37,000.

Ads for client side Research Managers have seen salaries rise almost £3,000 since 2006, to a current mean level of £42,800. This figure has been more erratic than supply side salaries over the last seven years, reflecting MR's slightly recession-proofed nature - client companies have on the whole responded more obviously to changes in the economy. Not yet this time, however - we'll keep a close eye on it the second half of the year.

Associate Director level candidates have much higher expectations since 2000 - this category has seen the steepest rise in remuneration, in part reflecting increased expectations from such staff in terms of business development and other new responsibilities. 2008 has certainly seen no tailing off in this trend.

The 'Director plus' category is indicative only as it includes a broad range from non-board directors on £50-60k to CEOs earning high six figures. Our feeling is that the slight dip in the mean figure for this year does not indicate a fall in salaries, but a larger number of jobs at the more junior end of the category. Six figures salaries are more common than ever, but there has been a resurgence of hiring just above AD level.

Means are based on ads showing salaries or salary ranges, with each ad reviewed individually both for purposes of seniority coding and whether or not it can meaningfully be included in salary calculations. For example, an ad offering £30-50,000 for 'SRE-ADs' will not be used. Means should be used with caution, bearing in mind that the above generally reflects the money part of packages and there are many other factors to take into account as to whether a particular position is well-paid.

More detailed figures and commentary will be published in the next month in a revived HRchive section on MrWeb - watch DRNO for details. Information and comment on US, Asian and Australian salaries will also appear.

Nick Thomas
MrWeb


* we look forward to a bit of lively debate on that one - but not from SREs.


Bases in brackets - note that total number of job ads has risen each year, but more are now excluded from the mean salary calculation