Survey: Manufacturing and distribution salaries increasing

The 2011 Compensation Data Manufacturing & Distribution survey, conducted by Olathe, Kan.-based Compdata Surveys, found that salaries for many jobs in the manufacturing and distribution arena are on the rise.

The firm surveyed more than 100 industry-specific job titles and 350 benchmark titles ranging from entry-level to executives. Data for the recently released results was collected from about 1,100 manufacturing and distribution employers managing more than 9,500 locations nationwide, according to a news release.

Survey findings include:

• Shipping and receiving clerks are earning an average salary of $31,800, a 1.9 percent increase from Compdata's 2010 survey.
• Production schedulers earn an average of $46,500, a two percent increase.
• Warehouse managers saw an increase of 3.3 percent in salary, averaging $69,600.
• Salaries for quality assurance managers averaged $80,700, a 1.5 percent decrease from 2010.

According to the survey, manufacturing managers in the Midwest region receive the lowest average salary, $81,600, compared to other regions in the country.

"The road to recovery has been a slow one, so it's no surprise employers are taking a conservative approach when making increases to compensation," said Amy Kaminski, director of marketing for Compdata Surveys, in the release. "Until economic improvements attain footing on solid ground, we can expect salary increases for most jobs to be modest at best."[[In-content Ad]]