Salary Information
Finding good salary information is an important aspect of job searches and career planning. It is not uncommon new graduates to have unrealistic ideas about the compensation technical jobs provide. This is a pretty frequent kind of question on the Career section of the Physics Forums.
Payscale
Payscale has turned out a couple of good reports that I like. I think their reports really emphasize the continuing value of a technical education.
Best College Degree by Median Salary
Methodology Annual pay for Bachelors graduates without higher degrees. Typical starting graduates have 2 years of experience; mid-career have 15 years. See full methodology for more. |
Payscale's database seems small and not as well organized as some I've seen. This needs to be taken into consideration when using their numbers.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor has the best interface of any salary website. You need to contribute a salary in order to see the data, but you can break it down any way you like. You can look by company, by location, by job title, or combinations thereof. I've found their data to be very good, and since they also have company reviews, interview descriptions, and a list of best places to work, I think Glassdoor is worth your time.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
The granddaddy of them all is the BLS National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates. The page you really want is this one:
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm
The OES gives you wages for every imaginable occupation, and you can also see where how many people are employed in a given field and where jobs in a particular field are concentrated. This latter items are helpful for career planning, so you can see what the prospects for a job are, and also where you may need to consider moving.