The Results Electronics Weekly Salary Survey 2011
A national salary survey carried out by Electronics Weekly in association with Jonathan Lee Recruitment found that in 2011 the average salary for someone working on the UK electronics industry was £44,161.
Richard Wilson looks at the findings of a major survey of salary levels in the UK electronics industry which questioned 1,160 electronics professionals across the country.
Average salary
The average salary has increased by 11.7% in the last four years since our previous salary survey found the average salary was £39,540.
At the high end of the salary scale, 8% of the employees questioned said they earned more that £70,000 a year. This is an improvement on the 2007 survey when only 5% were in this highest salary band.
More than half the sample has annual salaries of greater than £40,000. This shows a significant improvement on the survey carried out four years ago when only 40% earned more than £40,000.
In 2011, fewer than 3% said their annual salary was less than £15,000.
“I think the survey provides a real insight into what is happening within the electronics sector,” said Simon Roberts, regional manager for West Midlands at Jonathan Lee Recruitment.
“This is a good reflection of what is happening across high technology industry in the UK,” said Roberts.
If we look at salary levels for the different job functions we find that the average annual salary for a design engineer is almost £42,300. The figure is only slightly higher at £42,350 for research and development roles.
If we compare this with average salary levels in 2007 we find that design engineering pay has increased by 11.5%.
In 2011, senior engineers and engineering managers have annual salaries of £48,200.
Marketing versus engineering
What is interesting is that salary levels in sales and marketing activities have out paced those in engineering.
An average sales and marketing role commanded a salary of £52,870 in 2011. This represents an increase of more than 20% compared with four years ago.
The highest earners are still to be found in technical management where the average salary in 2011 was £53,800.
The highest average salaries are still to be found in the components sector, with its emphasis on the sales and marketing of products.
However, the communications sector remains one of the industry’s highest paid sectors. With an average salary of £47,400 it is considerably ahead of sectors such as defence/aerospace at £41,100 and industrial controls where the average salary level is just over £41,700.
But even this is above the automotive sector where the survey found the average salary to be just £40,000.
“From a permanent perspective, the jobs market, particularly in high technology areas such as electronics, has certainly come back far stronger and quicker than most people thought possible after the latest recession,” said Roberts.
Geography
It seems that location is less of a differentiator when it comes to average salary levels than it was four years ago.
Average salary levels of £47,100 in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were not that far behind the south east of England, traditionally the highest paid region with an average salary level of £47,700.
Four years ago the average salary in the south east of England was £43,000.
The latest survey indicated that the average salary level in East Anglia and the Midlands area is £41,300. It also indicates a significant increase in the average salary level at companies in the south west of England. The £45,700 salary level was more than £4,000 higher than four years ago.
The average salary in the Midlands has increased by £6,000 since the 2007 survey to reach £41,300.
While northern England had an average salary level of £39,400 in 2011, which represents a £4,000 increase on four years ago.
“For those candidates that are well qualified, mobile and eligible to work in the UK there are great opportunities to join some fantastic companies,” said Roberts. “The opportunities for new entrants will become increasingly competitive for both apprenticeship and graduate places.”
The survey found that the average payment rate for contract staff across the industry was £38 an hour. At the high end as many 15% of contractors said they were being paid at more that £60 an hour.
Salary increase
There survey revealed how the current economic climate was affecting salary increases this year. Despite this 75% of respondents received a salary increase in their last pay review and the average salary increase this year across the industry was 2.6%.
This is lower than the 3.2% increase recorded by the 2007 survey.
A third of the survey sample said they received an increase of only 1- 2% this year with 23% getting no increase at all.
However, 15% of those questioned said they received a salary increase of more than 5% this year.
The emphasis in these austere times seems to be on product development and sales activities. As a result we see the largest increases being paid to research and development engineers, purchasing and sales departments, which saw their salaries increase by above the 2.6% average.
Interestingly, the executives and senior managers said they had salary increases of less than 2% this year.
Design and manufacturing activities saw salary increases in the order of 2.8%. Annual salary increments in the communications, broadcast, components and industrial control sectors were all above 2%.
The automotive sector saw the largest increase of over 4%. However, employees in the defence, security and aerospace sectors did not fare so well with an average salary rise of just 1.7% this year.
Looking ahead to the next 12 months expectations for larger salary increases wither away as the reality of a struggling economy and government budget cuts has an impact. The average increase in the next 12 months is expected to be little more that 2%.
The largest increases next year are likely to be in sales and marketing departments, according to the survey.
Mr Average
A typical employee in the electronics industry
• Male
• Aged 47
• Earns £44,000 and had an increase of 2.6% in his last pay review, and is expecting a 2.2% increase in the next
• Works in the South East for a firm with 1,331 employees and has worked there just under nine years
• Has worked in the industry for 17 years
• Works in design / development engineering for a company in the aerospace / military / security sector.
• Keeps an eye on the jobs market
• Is using a mobile phone with Internet access
Benefits
When it comes to benefit packages many companies offer contributory pension plans private health insurance plans and bonus schemes. However, company car benefits and profit-share schemes are less common.
“Recent evidence suggests that clients have realised the need to hang on to their best employees, and are employing strategies to ensure that staff are engaged, have interesting work, job security and are being well rewarded,” said Roberts.
More than half the survey respondents said they have a health insurance plan, while only 23% have a company car or car allowance.
Health insurance was most common in consumer, communications and components sectors, but less likely to be offered in the defence and aerospace sectors.
Health insurance benefits were most common amongst senior managers and sales executives.
As many as 43% of respondents said they received a performance related bonus, but only 12% were on a profit share scheme.
“For those employees wishing to continue their career, the removal of the pensionable age may open up an increasing amount of flexible contract work, as they look to balance out the value they can offer an employer with the requirements of a better work life balance,” said Roberts.
Over a third of the survey sample said they worked a flexi-time scheme. This is most common in the defence and aerospace sector and less likely to be found in the component sales activities.
But respondents in the component sales sector were the most likely to receive a performance related bonus.
Almost three-quarters of all those questioned have a contributory pension scheme.
Electronics Weekly in association with Jonathan Lee Recruitment has carried out a major survey of salary levels in the UK electronics industry.
Over half the respondents said they had been at their current employer for more than eight years.
Over 36% were educated to degree level and 18% had Masters qualifications. HNC level graduations represented 15% of the sample. There were a significant number of PhD’s amongst the survey sample.
While the survey found that 11% of all respondents had achieved Chartered Engineer status.
“For companies recruiting, the availability and choice of appropriate candidates is proving to be a real challenge and consideration needs to be given to the recruitment strategy employed to find, select and finally secure the staff they require,” said Simon Roberts, regional manager for West Midlands at Jonathan Lee Recruitment.
Respondents were employed all across the UK, with over 30% working for companies in the south east of England.
More than 60% of the survey respondents were employed in some form of engineering role. This ranged from hardware and software to test and production engineers.
Sales departments were represented by 10% of the respondents. Senior engineering managers made up 14% of the survey sample.
The research was carried out by Reed Business Insight.
