PayScale Market Snapshot Shows Q1 2012 Wages at a Recent Peak

The PayScale Index for the first quarter of 2012 has revealed that compensation increases in the energy sector were widespread thanks to climbing gasoline prices and the rising prices of other mined commodities. Additionally, jobs in the related fields of mining, oil and gas exploration, and utilities (especially in those cities with strong markets for these industries) are also experiencing considerable pay raises. However, wages within the Food sector have declined quarter-over-quarter where annual pay fell 0.2 percent for the industry and 0.6 percent for jobs.

“The clear salary winners for Q1 2012 are the workers in mining, oil & gas exploration and utilities,” says, Katie Bardaro, lead economist for PayScale. “However, previously hurting areas, such as transportation and construction, are showing promise in Q1 2012 as well. In both these industries, wages increased significantly over the previous year.”

Jobs in IT and engineering, along with those in the sciences, have solid salary foundations but experienced flat growth in Q1 2012, halting the substantial pay gains experienced in 2011. Despite the lack of pay growth, jobs in these industries have still experienced the highest in annual pay growth, especially in cities with an expansive presence of IT, science, and engineering workers.

Bardaro continued, “While economists still view the economic recovery as lukewarm, from a compensation perspective, Q1 2012 shows significant improvement as pay growth for this period reached a three-year high.”