Please remember that this report is copyrighted and for your own personal use only! You can show it to an employer or potential employer during salary negotiations, but not give out access or leave printed copies.Company access is for use by one person in the company.
The Q4 2006 statistics in this report are based on the 91 salaried technical and marketing writers who reported in Q4 2006 (Oct. 1, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2006) and again in Q1 2007 (Jan. 1 - 15 only). The figures and percentages therefore differ somewhat from those in the Q4 2006 reports because statistics for the 42 writers who did not renew their participation in Q1 2007 were removed.
The Q1 2007 statistics are from 96 writers, 3 of whom were between jobs. The discrepancy between the number of writers in Q4 2006 and Q1 2007 is due to:
- Writers who changed from freelance to employee
- Writers who changed from employee to freelance
- Writers who now report in one of the new surveys (copy editors or creative writers)
- Writers who joined the survey in Q1 2007
Percentages were rounded according to mathematical rounding rules, so the sum of percentages may equal 99 or 101%. Salaries for writers between jobs are not included, but the statistics on writer makeup are included in some of the breakdowns.
Adjusted Salaries
The salaries are adjusted to include the value of a company car. When no car is taken, the adjusted salary is the same as the gross salary. When an employee gives up gross salary in return for a car, that amount is added to the gross salary. When an employee receives a car in addition to salary, an estimated value of the car is added to gross salary based on the cost to the employer or other information available. In special cases where a minimum annual bonus or 13th month salary is known, the monthly equivalent is also included in the adjusted salary.
Adjusted salaries do not include performance bonuses, value of stock options, educational fund, pension or other benefits.
Average, Median and Percentiles
Average is calculated by adding up all salaries and dividing the sum by the number of salaries reported. Average = SUM / # of entries.
Median is what is the salary for the person in the middle, with the same number of people earning the same or more as those earning that salary or less.
Percentiles are a ranking of entries with the lowest at 1 and the highest at 100.
25% salary means that 25% earn that salary or less, and 75% earn that salary or more. This is a low-end salary - most writers earn more.
50% salary means that 50% earn that salary or less, and 50% earn that salary or more. This is what the average, run-of-the-mill technical writer should expect to earn.
75% salary means that 75% earn that salary or less, and 25% earn that salary or more. This is what a writer who is the starting point for a high-end salary.
90% salary means that 90% earn that salary or less, and 10% earn that salary or more. This is a high-end salary - these figures are not included in this report, but I do have them for personal consulting.
Adj Salary
Average16,710.59
Median17,000.00
Std Dev4,357.86
25%14,000.00
50%17,000.00
75%19,025.00
Professional Organizations
33% of those reporting where paid members of at least one professional organization, up from 26% in 2006. 20% reported being members of the STC and 13% reported being members of Elephant, down slightly from 21% and 15% respectively in 2006. The drop is probably due to an error on the form during the first week of reporting in Q1, where radio buttons were used, thus preventing some from listing more than one organization. Memberships in all other relevant professional organizations were negligable and are therefore not included in this report.
Not AffiliatedAffiliated
Average16,102.8516,947.63
Median16,850.0017,500.00
Std Dev5,254.314,234.37
Writer Types
72% reported being technical writers, 9% marcom writers*, 16% documentation managers, and the remainder were either spread among other categories or did not respond to this question. These percentages include writers between jobs, the salary figures do not.
*The number of marcom writers is under reported because the job title for many of the technical writers was Technical/Marketing Writer.
Tech WriterMarcom WriterDocumentation Manager
Average15,476.0913,752.7819,405.81
Median16,065.0014,500.0020,000.00
Std Dev5,239.393,963.675,933.88
25%13,125.0010,875.0018,375.00
50%16,065.0014,500.0020,000.00
75%18,937.5016,000.0021,625.00
% of total72.164948459.27835051516.49484536
Writers Between Jobs
This is a new category added this year. Only those who reported in Q4 2006 were allowed to report as between jobs. Between jobs only refers to being unemployed during the two reporting period, even if the reportee has a solid job offer in hand. A small number of employees between jobs does not necessarily indicate a slowdown, but growing numbers are important to watch for.
Age and Experience
14% reported having less than 5 years experience, 46% had 5-10 years experience, and 40% had 10+ years experience. 2% moved from the under 5 years category to the 5-10 years category.
Salaries are divided into three groups: under 40 (27%), 40-49 (40%), and 50+ (34%).
Under 4040-4950+
<5 years5-10yrs10+ yrs
AgeAverage15,637.4016,935.6216,244.41
ExperienceAverage12,648.8515,907.4718,129.42
Median16,000.0018,000.0016,850.00
Median11,000.0016,700.0018,875.00
Std Dev4,378.525,429.494,844.90
Std Dev4,048.643,387.285,903.19
25%12,000.0016,000.0013,225.00
25%10,500.0014,000.0016,120.00
50%16,000.0018,000.0016,850.00
50%11,000.0016,700.0018,875.00
75%19,000.0019,000.0019,125.00
75%16,000.0018,000.0021,375.00
% of total26.5957439.361734.04255
% of total13.8297945.7446840.4255319
Company Size
18% reported working for small companies of up to 50 employees, 26% at companies with 50-100 employees, 25% at companies with 101-300 employees (up from 18% in Q4 2006) and 32% at companies with 301+ employees (down from 38% in Q4 2006).
Under 5050-100101-300300+
Average12,403.2415,971.5817,254.1318,211.87
Median13,000.0016,565.0018,000.0018,000.00
Std Dev5,409.554,967.723,680.584,354.53
25%8,500.0013,875.0015,450.0016,165.00
50%13,000.0016,565.0018,000.0018,000.00
75%16,000.0019,125.0019,000.0020,750.00
% of total18.4782626.086962532.6087
Geography
Traditionally this has been considered to have a major impact on salary. At the start of 2006 this did not appear to be true, with the exception of salaries for women in the Jerusalem area. As the demand for writers increased during the year, this changed and geography once again became a major factor. Throughout 2006 the relationship between home and work area codes also changed and appears to be an important early warning sign of growth or slowdown in the job market for technical/marcom writers. So if you are thinking of changing jobs, asking for a raise, or concerned about layoffs, then this is an indicator to watch. Salaries are only given by work area code because that appears to be the only relevant salary indicator. One last note about geography is that there is also relationship between geography and whether writers work as freelancers or company employees.
This is especially true when comparing salaries in the 04 area code (northern Israel) with those of the 09 area code. In 04 salaries have not been increasing and an unusually high percentage of writers work as freelancers, while in 09 salaries have been growing steadily and the percentage of freelance writers is much lower. This pattern is also confirmed by nonstatistical sources.
Throughout 2006 the 09 area code was the best paying and fastest growing area for technical and marcom writers. The Q1 statistics show a new trend of movement of employees into the 03 area, even at the expense of 09. It will be interesting to if this trend continues.
Adj Salary 02Adj Salary 03Adj Salary 04Adj Salary 08Adj Salary 09
Average
15,436.92
16,609.74
14,185.60
14,475.00
17,829.32Median
15,530.00
17,000.00
13,750.00
16,000.00
18,000.00Std Dev
4,753.61
3,868.17
4,117.62
4,679.32
6,491.7525%
11,000.00
13,750.00
12,100.00
12,250.00
16,130.0050%
15,530.00
17,000.00
13,750.00
16,000.00
18,000.0075%
19,350.00
19,050.00
16,615.00
17,850.00
19,500.00
% of total
14.13043478
42.39130435
10.86956522
7.608695652
27.17391304
Sex
This title is always an attention getter, but there appears to be very little sex discrimination in technical/marcom writing. The number of writers is very close to even both nationwide (54% male, 47% female). The ratio of male to female writers in the 04 and 09 area codes has changed significantly with technical writing becoming a "male profession" in those areas.
NationwideSalary MaleSalary Female
Average16,710.5916,931.2815,700.23
Median17,000.0017,500.0016,240.00
Std Dev4,357.865,152.164,672.07
25%14,000.0015,010.0013,500.00
50%17,000.0017,500.0016,240.00
75%19,025.0020,375.0018,000.00
% of total
54.3478260947.82608696
Pension/Bituach Menehalim
The table below shows what percentage of gross salary the plan is based on.
100%80%LessNone
53.0027.0011.003.00
% of total56.3829828.723411.702133.191489
Education Fund (Keren Hishtalmut)
The table below shows what percentage of gross salary the employer pays into the plan. Employees must pay 2.5% into the plan.
7.50%5%2.50%None
65.0012.006.0011.00
% of total69.1489412.765966.38297911.70213
Salary Increases (Raises and Job Changes)
This statistic is based only on those writers who reported as employees in both Q4 2006 and Q1 2007. It does not include writers who joined the survey in Q1 2007, writers who moved from freelance to employees, or writers who are between jobs. There are two sets of figures, one includes those who reported no change, some of whom may have received raises in Q4 2006; the other only includes those whose salary changed.
29% reported changes, most of which were increases. The percentile figures are deceptive because nearly all of the changes were above the 75 percentile. Furthermore, there were a number of salary decreases, some of which appear to be due to errors in earlier reporting. It is important to note that many companies have annual salary negotiations during Q4, with raises taking place at the end of Q4 or start of Q1. Therefore, in order to fully understand the salary changes you need to review the Q4 2006 salary changes as well.
Includes No ChangeOnly Changes
Average13.3732.86
Median0.003.05
Std Dev80.39124.48
25%0.00-0.40
50%0.003.05
75%0.977.61
