2000 FRSA Seed Analyst Wage Survey
(With comparative statistics from 1990 and 1994)
Tabulated and compiled by Annette Miller 6/1/2000
abstract
The Front Range Seed Analysts distributed the 2000 Seed Analyst Wage
Survey in March 2000. The survey was available in the Seed
Technologist Newsletter 74:2, online via www.frsa.org and through direct
mailings. Infopoll.coms software and Microsoft Excel were used to
tabulate and analyze the data. Survey design was modeled closely
after the 1990 and 1994 FRSA wage survey so that numbers could be compared.
127 respondents answered the 1990 poll and 148 analysts responded in 1994.
154 responses were tallied in the current survey. Not all respondents
answered every question; thus the numbers in each category may not add
up to 154. Gender, region, AOSA and RST certifications, education,
lab type, duties were the variables examined. Open ended questions
were asked regarding AOSA/SCST meeting attendance, leave policies, educational
assistance, and miscellaneous comments. Job satisfaction was
also assessed. Some conclusions from the data are: salaries
are up slightly from 1994. The average annual wage for all
respondents is $33,261.The gender gap is still present as it was in 1994.
Sampling inaccuracies make the extent of the gap difficult to quantify.
It may be narrowing for the Manager group. Only 59% of
respondents had AOSA/SCST meeting attendance paid each year by their employers.
Respondents were more satisfied with educational opportunities provided
by their employers than they were in 1994. Managers (those with less
than 50% seed analysis duties) had higher overall job satisfaction than
analysts. As in previous surveys, all respondents gave "opportunities
for advancement" the lowest satisfaction rating of all categories rated.
FRSA wishes to thank all the respondents for participating.
Data Outline:
1. AVERAGE SALARY AND BASIC BENEFIT OF SEED ANALYSTS
2. AVERAGE SALARY BY GENDER, EDUCATION AND DUTIES
3. AVERAGE SALARY AND AVERAGE LEAVE DAYS BY LAB TYPE
4. AVERAGE SALARY AND BENEFITS BASED ON CERTIFICATION
5. AVERAGE SALARY BY REGION
6. BENEFITS
7. JOB SATISFACTION
Supplement:
OPEN COMMENTS: 1. Leave policies, 2 Educational assistance, 3. . AOSA/SCST
meeting attendance, 4.Job satisfaction comments.
Numbers in parentheses are number of respondents for those
figures.
Satisfaction numbers are given on the following scale:
1= inadequate, 2= adequate, 3= highly satisfactory
1. AVERAGE SALARY AND BASIC BENEFIT OF SEED ANALYSTS
average days
# polled
Salary Vacation
Sick
'90 117
22,107 13
10
'94 136
26,285 17
12
00 106
33,261 18
14
00 14
9.73
hourly wages: part time seasonal
00 10
7.44
hourly wages: student
2. AVERAGE SALARY BY GENDER, EDUCATION AND DUTIES
(number polled
in parentheses):
2.1 GENDER
90
94
00
full time
part time part time student
Women
19,659 (51) 25,030 (81)
31,713 (67)
Men
26,234 (33) 29,442 (50)
36,916 (36)
Total
22,107 (117) 26,285 (136)
33,435 (105) 9.73 (14)
7.44 (10)
2.2 EDUCATION AND DUTIES
2.2.1 ANALYSTS: >50% duties are seed analysis
High School
College/Tech.
Graduate Degree
94
00
94
00
94
00
Women 21,135 (16)
26,140 (7) 24,726 (50) 29,837 (41)
30,432 (7) 37,083 (10)
Men
17,812 (3) 32,000 (1) 25,290 (28)
32,348 (19) 28,149 (5) 45,809 (4)
All education levels
94
00
Total
22,724(109) 31,354(81)
Ave. yrs. Experience
17
12.5
2.2.2 MANAGERS: <50% duties are seed analysis
94
ave. yrs. experience 00
ave. yrs. experience
Women 31,084 (6)
15
38,408 (12) 14.5
Men
40,701 (14) 14.6
42,556 (11) 16.8
2.3 EDUCATION AND GENDER: All respondents
2.3.1
High School
'90
'94
00
Women
20,384 (16)
27,252 (8)
Men
33,000 (1)
32,000 (1)
Total
20,326 (24) 21,212 (20)
27,202 (10)
Years of
experience 14
13
16
2.3.2
Col/Tech.
'90
'94
00
Women
20,804 (25)
31,173 (51)
Men
24,957 (24)
35,397 (27)
Total
22,638 (68) 26,853 (96)
32,444 (80)
Years of
experience 10
12
13
2.3.3
Grad. degree.
'90
'94
00
Women
25,700 (1)
39,612 (8)
Men
33,487 (5)
44,319 (7)
Total
29,907 (6) 32,453 (16)
41,809 (15)
Years of
experience 16
10
15
3. AVERAGE SALARY AND AVERAGE LEAVE DAYS BY LAB TYPE
3.1 SALARY
'90
'94
00
Federal
21,096 (4) 26,952 (13)
32,803 (6)
State
23,373 (15) 25,547 (78)
33,282 (48)
Commercial
19,919 (19)
affiliated with a seed company
28,767 (31) 32,617 (33)
independent
28,659 (5) 34,428 (14)
Crop Improvement Association
27,071 28,091 (7)
34,600 (7)
3.2 LEAVE DAYS:
average days
% of polled having:
vacation
sick leave
vacation sick
'90 '94 00
'90 '94 00
'94 00 '94
00
Federal
14 20 18
13 13 12
92% 80% 92% 80%
State
15 17 21
12 14 17
74% 95% 78% 95%
Commercial
9
6
affiliated with a seed company
13 16
10 11
81% 79% 56% 71%
independent
9 14
12 8
44% 59% 22% 68%
Crop Improvement Assoc. 14
18 15
9 13 13
100% 100% 86% 86%
4. AVERAGE SALARY AND BENEFITS BASED ON CERTIFICATION
4.1 SALARY
Salary
Average Years of Experience
Certificates
held
'90
'94
00
'90 '94 00
All with RST
22,863 (27) 30,940 (33) 35,580 (55)
16 15 17
All with AOSA Germ.
25,317 (52) 27,804 (54) 35,635 (41)
15 15 18
All with AOSA Purity
26,784 (43) 27,528 (58) 35,677 (37)
14 14 18
AOSA Germ + Purity
26,836 (42) 28,692 (40) 36,544
(35) 15 14
19
AOSA G+P, and RST
23,014 (4) 27,236 (8)
36,119 (20) 24 18
18
AOSA Purity only
23,108 (10) 20,000 (1)
13 21
AOSA Germ only
22,646 (6) 30,333 (6)
13 17
RST only
35,692 (34)
16
4.2 Average Days Leave:
Certificates
Vacation
Sick
held
'90 '94 00
'90 '94 00
All with RST
12 15 18
8 11 12
All with AOSA Germ.
15 18 20
12 14 14
All with AOSA Purity
14 18 19
11 14 13
AOSA Germ + Purity
15 18 20
11 14 13
AOSA G+P, and RST
17 15 19
16 13 12
AOSA Purity only
18 15
14 18
AOSA Germ only
22 19
23 16
RST only
17
11
5. AVERAGE SALARY BY REGION
Salary:
Average Years Overall Job
of Experience
Satisfaction
'90
'94
00
'90 '94 00
'90 '94
00
West Coast
25,079 (6) 29,559 (14) 36,034 (14)
16 12
15 2.17 2.47
2.1
West Interior
19,406 (18) 22,318 (31) 29,157 (24)
8 8
10 2.00 2.00
1.8
Central Plains
21,587 (34) 27,911 (21) 30,531 (28)
11 13
15 1.82 1.91
1.9
Central
28,797 (21) 29,746 (24) 36,368 (25)
18 14
11 2.14 1.92
2.1
Southeast
21,498 (24) 26,682 (35) 34,591 (13)
9 13
16 1.54 1.94
2.1
Northeast
24,630 (13) 26,134 (9) 53,869 (2)
13 22
26 2.00 2.18
2.6
Cities
34,898 (53)
Outlying urban
32,986 (35)
Rural
29,410 (16)
6. BENEFITS
Percent of respondents with benefit
'90 (of 127) '94 (of 148) 00 (of 154)
sick leave
91
94
79
vacation leave
91
91
81
parental leave
17
14
54
medical insurance
90
91
81
dental insurance
52
60
57
educational assistance
38
36
64
paid expenses
for AOSA/SCST meetings --
56
59
retirement plan
82
84
81
profit sharing
15
18
27
7. JOB SATISFACTION
7.1 Job Satisfaction: all respondents and by gender
Satisfaction numbers are given on the following scale:
1= inadequate, 2= adequate, 3= highly satisfactory
total
polled salary benefits leave
advancement education overall
All
'90 120-124 1.66
2.26 2.32
1.37
1.81 2.02
'94 143
1.79 2.34 2.35
1.41
1.86 1.98
00 139
1.8 2.2
2.3 1.6
2.0
2.0
Women '90
53-54 1.55
2.11 2.22
1.28
1.67 1.92
'94 88
1.82 2.39 2.31
1.47
1.87 2.04
00 88
1.8 2.2
2.3 1.6
2.1
2.0
Men
'90 33-34
1.82 2.30 2.44
1.36
1.19 2.03
'94 50
1.78 2.28 2.38
1.34
1.88 2.00
00 48
1.8 2.3
2.3 1.6
1.9
2.0
7.2 Job Satisfaction: <50% duties: analysis
(managers)
total
polled salary benefits
leave advancement education overall
all
94 23
2.08 2.56
2.56 1.47
2.21 2.21
00 33
2.0 2.5
2.5 1.7
2.3 2.1
women 94
8
2.00 2.50
2.50 1.25
2.00 1.87
00 18
2.0 2.6
2.6 1.6
2.4 2.1
men
94 14
2.14 2.64
2.64 1.71
2.35 2.42
00 15
2.1 2.5
2.3 1.9
2.1 2.2
7.3 Job Satisfaction: >50% duties seed analysis (analysts)
total
polled salary benefits leave advancement
education overall
High School:
women:
94 18
1.61 2.27
2.22 1.33
1.50 1.94
00 16
1.5 1.9
2.2 1.6
1.9
2.0
men:
94 3
1.33 2.00
2.66 1.00
1.33 1.33
00 1
2.0 2.0
2.0 1.0
2.0
2.0
College/technical:
women:
94 50
1.85 2.42 2.25
1.51
1.92
2.05
00 45
1.8 2.2
2.3 1.6
2.0
2.0
men:
94 28
1.64 2.21
2.25 1.10
1.71
1.82
00 25
1.6 2.2
2.4 1.4
1.8
1.9
M.S. degree or higher:
women:
94 7
2.00 2.42
2.85 1.71
2.28 2.42
00 10
1.8 2.1
1.9 1.6
2.0
2.0
men:
94 5
1.80 1.80
2.20 1.80
1.80 2.20
00 6
2.0 2.0
2.2 1.7
1.8
2.0
Supplement to the FRSA 2000 Wage Survey.
Answers to open-ended questions and additional survey
data.
Employment data:
New this year, we asked managers if they plan to create
or eliminate any positions. Two respondents indicated they plan to
cut seed analysts employed in the coming year. They anticipate
cutting a total of 4 positions. Fourteen said they plan to hire more
seed analysts. They plan to create 12 new jobs.
Open-ended questions
1. What is your employers policy regarding unpaid
personal leave?
We first asked this in 1994 when the Family Medical Leave Act was newly passed by congress. We wanted to see how many people were familiar with the act an