1994 SOUTHERN CALIFORNLA AND ORANGE COUNTY

In mid 1994, a survey of the members of the Southern California and Orange County sections of AIHA was conducted, to evaluate changes in salary since the last joint survey, in 1991. The analysis was somewhat delayed due to software problems. The following report duplicates to some extent the 1991 survey, and data is presented in tabular and graphical formats.

The survey instrument was designed by Al Perez and Steve Reidman, and mailed to members of both the Southern California and Orange County Sections of the AIHA. A total of 400 questionnaires were sent out, with 212 responses. Thirteen respondents were either unemployed or student members, and were not included in the analysis.

Data collection and processing of the responses was conducted with the assistance of Danny Wong, Scott Myles and John Sullivan. The data analysis and discussion presented here was conducted by Peter Bellin.

The average salary of all respondents was $63,1 00, out of 199 responses (50% response rate). This represents a 10% increase over the average annual, salary of $57,000 reported in the last survey. The graph shows the salary distribution of all respondents. The data are lognormally distribution, with a geometric mean (GM) salary of $59,000 with a geometric standard deviation (GSD) of 1.4. This information is displayed in Graph 1: Salary Distribution. (graph missing)

Of the respondents, 159 were members of the Southern California Section, 78 were members the Orange County Section and 136 were members of the National AIHA. There were 38 joint members of Orange County and Southern California AIHA. There were 60 members of the ASSE among the respondents.

In this survey, 67 (34%) of 199 respondents were female. This is unchanged since the previous survey. National AIHA reported that 18.6% of its membership was female in 1994. Average salary of the women respondents was $54,1 00 and for the men respondents, $67,700.

Respondents were queried as to their responsibilities in industrial hygiene, environmental compliance and safety. On average, they spend 55% of their time on industrial hygiene, 27% on safety and 19% on environmental compliance. This is similar to the results from the previous survey: 58% industrial hygiene, 22% safety and 20% environmental compliance.

Industry	Average Salary	Number of Responses
Consulting	$64,500	49 (24.6%)
Other	$61,700	40 (20%)
Aerospace	$64,300	27 (13.4%)
Government	$55,400	24 (12%)
Insurance	$61,100	18 (9%)
Petroleum	$73,400	18 (9%)
Utility	$65,200	11 (5.5%)
Academic	$54,500	10 (5%)
Vendor	$90,000	2 (1%)
Total	$63,100	199 (100%)

This analysis shows some differences from the 1991 SCAIHA salary survey. Vendors come in with the highest reported salary, although with only 2 members in this group. Petroleum is second, followed by Utility, Consulting and Aerospace. This survey repeats the earlier observation that Government has the lowest salaries, but the difference is much less striking than in the 1991 study.

Increasing education was associated with increasing salary; in part this would be due to work experience, but the beneficial effect of an advanced degree is clear. 'The distribution of degree among the membership presented in the 1994 National AIHA Membership Survey was quite similar to this distribution.

Terminal Degree	Average Salary	Number of Responses
Associate	$45,800	3 (1.57%)
Bachelors	$53,200	62 (31%)
Masters	$67,500	125 (63%)
Doctoral	$84,900	7 (3-5%)

Work experience shows a strong correlation with reported salary and is expected to correlate with advanced degrees. However, as the table below shows, after 10 years of work experience, the value of a Master's degree shows up in reported salary.

Work Experience	Bachelors Degree	Masters Degree
< 5	$43,100	$41,400
5 - 9	$54,600	$56,000
10 - 14	$63,500	$71,800
15 - 19	$71,100	$82,700
20 - 24	$61,700	$87,900
25 - 29	$67,500	$92,500
> = 30	$47,500	$100,300

Respondents were queried concerning professional certification. The CIH (50% of respondents), with 44 (22%) reporting a CSP and 13 (6.5%) reporting a P.E. Salaries were similar across these groupings. In National AIHA, 60% of the membership holds a CIH.

Certification	1994 Survey	1991 Survey
CIH	$76,100	$67,000
CSP	79,800	$66,000
CIH, No CSP	$72,100	$67,000
No CIH	$67,500	$65,000
Both CIH and CSP	$84,900	$66,000
Neither CIH nor CSP	$47,700	$47,000
PE	$80,100	no report

In view of the recent suggestion by ABIH to require a Masters degree to sit for the core examination, the relationship between educational level and CIH was evaluated:

Two factors were strongly related to reported salary, in addition to certification. These were managerial duties and work experience. Respondents who indicated they had management positions reported an average salary of $74,700 (96 respondents, or 48%). Those without management positions reported an average salary of $51,800 (101 responses, or 51%).

Age also was strongly associated with reported salary, but not so strongly as work experience. In the table below, it is interesting to note the salary compar ison between men and women, within work experience groupings. When work experience is accounted for, female respondents reported earnings within 5% of male respondents. Two respondents did not report their gender Graph 2: (graph missing) Average Salary shows average salary within work experience groups.

Years of Experience	Salary (overall)	Salary (Men)	Salary (Women)
< 5	$42,300	$42,100	$42,500
5 - 9	$55,500	$56,900	$53,500
10 - 14	$69,400	$71,100	$66,800
15 - 19	$80,500	$81,500	$78,100
20 - 24	$81,100	$82,300	no data
25 - 29	$84,200	$84,200	no data
> = 30	$87,800	$87,800	no data

A regression analysis was conducted, using work experience and CIH designation to predict salary. The analysis produced the following prediction equation, with an r-square of 0.50.

CIH	Associate	Bachelor's	Masters	Doctoral
Yes	0	16< /td>	79	4
No	3	46	46	3