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June '04 stats & comment

Salaries for MR jobs continued to fluctuate last year despite the generally positive feeling in recruitment circles: in the second half of the year they actually fell for most job titles, as reported in the March MRWho.

The tables below give the numbers of postings and mean salaries for the last 6 months of the year by region, county etc ... For smaller areas (ie London regions and individual home counties) mean salaries would have very small bases so they are only shown in a few cases and only for the most common job title/function on the site, SRE.

London's share of vacancies, after falling for two consecutive half years, has risen back above the two thirds mark, around where it was in early 2002. Its dominance is particularly pronounced in RE and SRE jobs (up 13% to 70% and up 10% to 73% respectively). At the senior end and on the agency side, London continues to dominate with 77% of all Director level jobs (unchanged). London's share is smallest among client side Research Manager positions - just under half - this figure has recovered slightly from 41% in 1st half 2003 but to nothing like its old dominance. The surge in client side positions in the SE (outside London), noted 6 months ago, has been pretty well maintained.

It's worth noting that the much larger number of vacancies appearing in these tables for late 2003 reflect a larger number of ads on the site. The proportion of ads with salaries is fairly constant and the number of ads where salary is stated but not included in these calculations is rising due to more careful removal of bias. For example, where a huge salary range and a number of job titles are given on one ad, it's impossible to say which parts of the range apply to which titles so the ad is excluded[eg SRE to AD, £25-45,000 would no longer be included in the stats].

The smaller proportion of jobs in the Midlands, North and Scotland is disappointing but reflects a surge in London jobs rather than a significant drop in advertised positions outside the South of England.

The fall in SRE salaries can be traced mostly to a sharp drop in salaries in the home counties and SE outside London - we’ve no idea why, although the base of 277 jobs is surely sufficient to satisfy most that it’s a genuine result. There are already signs that this is climbing in 2004. London salaries seem to be fanning out - there has been a drop in JRE and RE salaries in the capital, while more senior agency positions have held steady and client side RM remuneration is steeply up. The latter also means a huge variant between regions - in late 2003 the average RM position in London paid £5,300 more than the equivalent in the SE outside London and a whopping £8,600 more than the equivalent outside the SE.

Surrey, Middlesex, Berks and Bucks continue to provide most of the research work in the home counties. However, very little can be said about SRE salaries here due to the fall in home counties SRE positions which means small bases.

Number of Vacancies and mean Salaries by [larger] Regions:

London South East Other   Function/Seniority no. vacs mean sal no. vacs mean sal no. vacs mean sal   Field 68 N/A 8 N/A 8 N/A   IT / DP 43 N/A 13 N/A 12 N/A   EXECUTIVE JOBS   JRE 36 19,000 24 18,100 5 18,400   RE 231 22,700 61 21,400 39 22,200   SRE 309 27,600 59 26,400 55 28,100   PM 186 31,800 52 30,900 35 32,100   RM 96 41,800 68 36,500 33 33,200   AD 152 40,000 34 39,500 31 39,000   Director 129 56,100 32 55,500 6 45,400 *

Distribution of Vacancies by region - %s:

Title Base   London South East Rest of UK   JRE 64 % 55 37 8   RE 321 % 70 19 12   SRE 415 % 73 14 13   PM 267 % 68 19 13   RM 187 % 49 35 17   AD 216 % 70 16 14   Director 165 % 77 19 4   TOTAL 1359 % 68 20 12 * s = small/insufficient base

Bases for all tables, rows and columns: all job ads on MrWeb, where salary or salary range stated, excluding those with a large salary range for multiple levels

Mean salaries for SREs by UK region:

No. vacs SRE sal (base)   All UK 1359 27,500 415   Outside London / SE 166 28,200 55   North / Scotland 52 28,200 33   E. Anglia / Midlands / Wales 23 29,500 12   Home Counties / SE 277 26,400 59   Central & South England 66 * *   London 948 27,600 309

... by London Region:

No. vacs SRE sal (base)   Central London 191 28,200 56   South West London 24 26,000 11   West London 84 27,000 27

...and by home county:

No. vacs SRE sal (base)   Buckinghamshire 29 * *   Berkshire 50 * *   Hertfordshire 19 * *   Kent 10 * *   Middlesex 52 * *   Surrey 74 25,800 18   Sussex 4 * *   * s = small/insufficient base

Bases for all tables, rows and columns: all job ads on MrWeb, where salary or salary range stated, excluding those with a large salary range for multiple levels