Webmaster's Note: This survey was conducted during the second quarter of 1995. The new salary survey will be in the April 1999 issue of TIP.

Authors' Notes: This survey was requested by the Society Executive Committee and performed as a public service by State Farm Insurance Companies. We would like to acknowledge John Murray and Attitude Research Incorporated's (ARI) contribution to this project. ARI designed the layout of the questionnaire. Address correspondence to the senior author at State Farm Insurance Companies, Research Department, One State Farm Plaza, Bloomington, IL 61710-0001.

An income survey of the membership of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) was conducted during the second quarter of 1995. Similar surveys were conducted during the third quarter of 1989 and the first quarter of 1983.

Questionnaires were sent on June 29, 1995, to all SIOP members with United States addresses on record (n = 2551). As of August 21, 1995, 1486 surveys had been returned, yielding a response rate of 58.3%. This response rate is lower than the 1988 survey rate of 72.8%. However, the 1988 survey was coupled with a SIOP membership survey and a reminder card was sent to respondents. These factors may have led to higher response rates. The 1995 response rate was, however, higher than the 1982 response rate of 48%, when the survey questionnaire asked for respondents' social security numbers.

Table 1 contains an analysis of respondents by sex, type of membership, and employment status. This table shows that the 1994 and 1988 and 1982 samples were similar with respect to most grouping categories. However, the 1994 sample had a larger percentage of women than the previous samples. More than 90% of the respondents were employed either full-time or part-time. Three percent of the respondents indicated that they were retired; the findings cited below exclude retired respondents.

Figures are available in the published version of TIP.

1. The median income for respondents with Doctoral degrees was $71,000. Twenty-five percent earned more than $100,000 and 10% earned more than $150,000. The median income for respondents with Master's degrees was $59,500. From 1982 to 1994, the median income for respondents with Master's degrees rose 38%, while the median income for respondents with Doctor's degrees rose 66%. The increase from 1988 to 1995 was 16% for respondents with Master's degrees, 18% for Doctorate respondents. However, when income was adjusted for inflation, the median income for both Doctorate and Master's respondents decreased. Since 1988, real income has decreased for both men, women, and respondents younger than 45. Respondents between 45 to 54 years of age showed slight increases in real income since 1988. It is important to note, however, that this was a cross-sectional comparison and not a longitudinal comparison of the same individuals over the thirteen-year period (see Table 1, Figure 1, and Figure 2).
2. Twenty-nine percent of the respondents were female. In 1983, women represented 16% of the respondents, while 21% of the 1989 sample were women. In 1994, the median income for women was $58,500, while the median income for men was $75,000 (see Table 2 and Figure 1). Two differences were observed across sex for SIOP membership that may explain some of this discrepancy. Male SIOP members were more likely to hold PhDs than female members (93% versus 87%, p < .001). Also, male members tended to have more experience than female members. The male average length of time since degree was 16.9 years; the female length was 10.6 years.
3. Respondents in the top 5% of the income distribution reported annual incomes of $200,000 to well over one million dollars. These respondents tended to be male, between 45 and 54 years old, who had obtained their PhDs more than 19 years ago. A majority of these high-earning respondents held consulting jobs.
4. The median starting salary for new PhDs employed by SIOP members in 1994 and 1995 was $45,000, up 15% (down 7.9% when adjusted for inflation) from the median starting salary of those employed in 1988. Ten percent of these newly hired PhDs had starting salaries of more than $67,000. It is not known whether these newly-hired PhDs had been employed in the field prior to receiving their degree (see Figure 3).
5. As was the case in previous years, incomes of respondents located in the New York Metro area were higher than the incomes of the other respondents. Analyses of data from respondents with Doctoral degrees revealed that those in the New York Metro area had a median income which was 21% higher than the median for those whose offices were located elsewhere ($85,000 in Metro New York, $70,000 elsewhere). Members in Metro New York did not differ from the rest of SIOP membership in sex composition, level of degree, or experience.
6. When the respondents with Doctoral degrees were classified by their primary professional employer, those who listed banking, financial, or insurance employers had the highest median income, $101,000. Respondents who worked primarily for consulting firms or as individual consultants had the second-highest median income, $98,000. Academic employment in non-Ph.D. programs was listed as primary for 21% of the Doctorate respondents; this group had the lowest median income, $53,000. Respondents employed in Business Departments had a significantly higher median income, $71,000, compared to respondents employed in Psychology Departments, $50,500 (see Figure 5).
7. Survey recipients were asked to indicate their primary job activity. Doctorate respondents involved primarily in industrial/management consulting or management of personnel functions had the highest median income, $100,000. Doctorate respondents who indicated that teaching was their major activity had the lowest median income, $52,000. As noted earlier, the median income for all respondents with Doctoral degrees was $71,000 (see Figure 6).
8. About half of all respondents with Doctoral degrees received supplementary income from one or more sources other than their primary professional employer. The median supplementary income was $10,000; ten percent of this group made over $55,000. Consulting ranked first in frequency as a source of additional income; 47% of the Doctoral respondents received some supplementary income from consulting. The median income from consulting was $9,000 (see Figure 7).