After learning the results of the Knowledge-Based Governance Survey completed just prior to the May meeting, the STC Board of Directors voted unanimously to make the entire Salary Database available to members without charge.

The Salary Database is information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which collects data on 801 occupations and professions from 1.25 million business establishments in all fifty states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

In 2007, the Salary Database was offered to members in a free summary version that included a portion of the data available in the full version. Members could purchase the full version as a PDF for a nominal fee.

For 2008, the entire Salary Database will be available to members at no charge. The Board considers it to be a benefit of membership.

The Salary Database allows for more meaningful comparisons of salary information across geographic areas and industries due to the increased amount and granularity of the data. The BLS data for technical writers covers eighty-four industries, all 11 combined statistical areas, and 153 metropolitan areas. Previous STC salary surveys provided no comparison of salary information across industries.

The survey BLS uses to gather data is considered more reliable than STC’s earlier surveys of its members because the BLS data come from company Human Resources departments. The BLS survey also focuses on duties and job functions of employees, not on their titles, since titles can be misleading because they do not consistently reflect responsibilities. The data show how other employees with similar duties are compensated, and therefore provide a more effective basis for comparison. The BLS data also include information only on salaries and wages with both annual and hourly salary information provided. Data on benefits and other compensation, which might skew results, are not included.

“I really wish the survey could include data on technical communicators in other countries, but, with only one or two exceptions, their government agencies typically do not separate technical writers from other writers and poets, making a clear understanding of wages impossible,” explained STC President Mark Clifford, based in the United Kingdom. “The survey has valuable information for 86 percent of our members and someday we hope it will include all.”