From February 17 to March 15, 2002, Print Buyers Online.com conducted a print buyer compensation survey with PBO members. 98 print buyers completed our online survey. Here are some of the results:

PBO's Print Buyer Compensation Survey

Profile of Respondents:

• 57% of respondents primary job responsibility is print production/print buying, while 34% manage the print production or purchasing department

• Age of respondents:
  
  
  • 27% age 25-35
    
  • 38% age 36-45
    
  • 23% age 46-55
    
  • 11% age 56 or older

• Gender:
  
  
  • 67% female
    
  • 33% male

  PBO research repeatedly shows a 70/30% split of women to men in print buying/print production.

• When comparing the compensation between the female and male respondents:
  
  
  • 53% of males (vs. 20% female) earn $61,000 or more
    
  • 22% of males (vs. 5% female) earn $91,000 or more
    
  • While this information is relevant, one should be careful not to make broad generalizations about unfair pay, as other factors such as experience have not been factored in. As we increase the number of respondents to our compensation survey, we may be able to provide more robust conclusions.

• Education:
  
  
  • 66% of respondents have a Bachelor's degree

• Programs or technologies most respondents said they are skilled at:
  
  
  • 100% e-mail
    
  • 94% Internet
    
  • 94% Word or Word Perfect
    
  • 86% Excel spreadsheets
    
  • 48% PDF
    
  • 45% Quark Express
    
  • 26% remote proofing
    
  • 19% preflight software

• 97% are employees (opposed to independent)

• 96% work full-time

• Region of the US where respondents work:
  
  
  • 33% south atlantic (WV, MD, VA, DC, NC, SC, GA, FL, DE)
    
  • 16% east north central (WI, IL, MI, OH, IN)
    
  • 11% mid-atlantic (PA, NY)

  Because of the relatively small number of respondents, our data does not allow us to accurately compare location vs. compensation and some other relevant issues. PBO will continue the compensation surveys. As more people respond, we may be able to provide more specific data for these areas.

• Company size:
  
  
  • 1-10 employees 8%
    
  • 10-50 employees 17%
    
  • 50-150 employees 20%
    
  • 150-500 employees 24%
    
  • over 500 employees 31%

  When comparing print buyers that earn over $51,000 a year, surprisingly our data indicates there is very little difference in compensation compared to company size.

• Type of compensation:
  
  
  • 58% salary
    
  • 33% salary, plus bonus

• Gross income:
  
  
  • 14% $32-40,000
    
  • 29% $41-50,000
    
  • 20% $51-60,000
    
  • 11% $61,70,000
    
  • 9% $71-80,000
    
  • 10% $91,000 and above

• 65% of respondents buy over $500,000 a year

• 92% of respondents have four or more years experience

• Note: The Print Buyers Online.com e-community attracts print buyers that buy larger volumes of printing and are more experienced. For our members, this compensation data is very relevant. However, we would expect to see is a significant decrease in compensation for print buyers that buy less than $250,000 a year.

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