Late last week, Publishers Weekly released its 2014 Salary Survey. While many of the findings were what you would expect—i.e., overwhelmingly white, female employees working longer hours than the year before and with a little more pay—they still manage to leave you feeling, well… a bit disappointed.
Cue Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” and read on.
Let’s start with the (kind of) good news: 85% of respondents are at least somewhat satisfied with their jobs. We’ve also seem to have (modestly) overcome a fear of total sector collapse, with 54% of us reporting we are very or extremely confident in the industry’s future.
So what’s bothering us?
More work than ever: We are now working 47 hours a week, up from 45 hours in 2012, and it’s getting us down:
More work was cited as a source of dissatisfaction last year by 58% of survey respondents, up from 49% in 2012, overtaking low pay—the perennial leader—as the most frequently cited complaint about the industry.
Modest pay increase for a select few: Pay increased by 2.8% in 2013 (as it did in 2012) with the “overall figure held in check by the significant percentage of employees who received no raise.” Of those who did receive a raise, only 7% were for cost-of-living adjustments. The rest reported raises based on merit (70%) or promotion (18%). 45% of those who were promoted in 2013 did not receive a raise.
Lack of diversity: Of those who identified their race, 89% described themselves as white/Caucasian, with 3% selecting Asian, another 3% selecting Hispanic and 1% selecting African-American.
And how do we feel about this lack of diversity? 61% acknowledge there is little diversity in publishing, 28% are ambivalent and 11% see it as a non-issue.
The dearth of minority employees directly affects the types of books that are published, industry members agreed, and for this issue to be addressed, there needs to be more advocates for books involving people of color throughout the business, including in management, editorial, and marketing executives in publishing houses, as well as among booksellers and librarians.
Male/Female divide: Women account for 74% of the publishing workforce (filling at least 70% of the jobs in sales/marketing, operations and editorial, but only 51% of management positions) and earn about 72 cents for every $1 their male colleagues do.
The average compensation for men in 2013 was $85,000, the same as in 2012, while average compensation for women rose to $60,750 last year, up from $56,000 the year before.
Why is there such a divide? Men fill more (and better paying) management roles and tend to have more experience than their female colleagues throughout all titles:
In 2013, the median number of years of experience for men in the industry was 17, compared to 11 for women (the median for men in management was 19 years, compared to 13.5 for women).
For a closer look (if you dare), more charts, stats and figures at the link.