Survey Reveals Modest Rises

Results of the APEGGA-sponsored 1997 Employer Salary Survey indicate rises in compensation levels for most categories of engineers, geologists and geophysicists were somewhat more modest this year than in the 1996 survey.

A summary of the results based on responses submitted by 83 employers, employing a total of 5,562 individuals, is published as an insert in this month's PEGG. The complete results, published in this year's Value of Professional Services booklet, are expected to be available through APEGGA's Calgary and Edmonton offices in November.

In addition to obtaining salary data, the survey also questioned employers about comprehensive benefits packages. Responses indicate that about 90 per cent of organizations provide a comprehensive benefits package, and more than 60 per cent of employers responding provide some sort of retirement package. Comparable figure in last year's survey were respectively 80 and 50 per cent.

Geologists, who in last year's survey were reported as having mean salaries at junior levels of responsibility increase by more than five per cent, this year had a comparable rise of less than one per cent.

Geophysicists, who last year generally registered positive, though more modest increases in their mean salaries than geologists, also saw less of an increase. Geophysicists at the "project level" experienced a decline in the mean salary. However, geophysicists working at the supervisory or management level registered a positive change of mean salary, in the two-three-per-cent range.

The survey showed that junior engineers working in the manufacture of non-durables underwent a considerable turn-around to 6.2 per cent, after reporting a 1.7 per cent decline in the mean the previous year. In percentage terms, the highest rise (over eight per cent) occurred for project-level engineers in non-durables manufacturing and for senior management engineers employed in the durables manufacturing sector.

Check also Salary Survey Insert.

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