Every year, Publishers Weekly (PW) releases an industry salary survey that highlights statistics relevant to the industry. Why should you review the 2017 survey? For anyone looking to begin their career in the industry, it helps to research the current climate and understand what you’re getting yourself into. Salary Surveys are great tools to use to examine the range of salaries available in the industry. They give you a better understanding of what you should be negotiating for when you look at job offers, what job security looks like, details to help you plan for the long-term, and so on.
This year, the PW Salary Survey found that “women’s share of all publishing jobs rose in 2016, and the pay gap with men closed slightly.”
Graph courtesy of PW Salary Survey 2017.
While “the increase in women’s share of the industry workforce is not a surprise,” 80 per cent of the publishing industry consisted of women, rising from 74 per cent in the previous year. To the left you can see that women hold the majority in all job titles except for management, where they are edged out by men by 2 per cent.
Graph courtesy of PW Salary Survey 2017.
Meanwhile, the pay gap between men and women is still significant. This past year, median compensation across all jobs for men was $93,000 and $65,000. In the previous year, “the median compensation for men was $96,000 and $61,000 for women.”
Some interesting facts from this year’s salary survey:
- The top job complaints among women were low salary, a lack of recognition, and a lack of advancement.
- The top job complaints among men were an increased workload and a low salary.
- “The most frequently reported compensation range was between $40,000 and $59,999.”
Besides Publishers Weekly, other useful sites to use when searching for salary information include PayScale and GlassDoor.