APICS Member Report APICS Operations Management Employment Outlook Year End 2012 Presented by APICS The Association for Operations Management The University of North Carolina Wilmington
SUMMARY Understanding the key supply chain and operations management hiring trends, knowledge, and skills sought by those with hiring responsibility and within expected hiring areas is critical. Due to the bellwether nature of supply chain and operations management roles in the marketplace, it is important to find the knowledge and skills that best match future employment opportunities that hiring managers use to evaluate candidates and workforce development needs to which global economic trend watchers pay attention. APICS The Association for Operations Management and the Cameron School of Business at the University of North Carolina Wilmington jointly produce the APICS Operations Management Employment Outlook report in order to keep supply chain and operations management professionals informed. Key findings APICS Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) designees earned 14 percent more than their counterparts without the APICS CPIM, and APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) designees earned 21 percent more than their counterparts without the designation. More than 60 percent of APICS CPIM and CSCP designees believe their designation improved their hiring potential. There is an anticipated hiring decreased for the end of 2012 down 8 percent from the summer 2012 report. The data for this report were collected from a random sample of more than 37,000 supply chain and operations management professionals worldwide. Twice annually, approximately 50 percent of the APICS members, certification designees, and customers are asked to participate in the Operations Management Employment Outlook survey related to anticipated hiring, salary, and knowledge and experience desired for various job categories. Where appropriate, results are presented as a combination of data from the current and previous surveys. Report data are organized in three sections: I. Employment hiring trends in supply chain and operations management In this section, we use respondents collective anticipated hiring to predict economic improvement or decline. II. Salary ranges and trends In this section, salary data are presented related to five key functional areas or job categories, taking into account more than 30 job titles in supply chain and operations management. III. Education trend In this section, we identify key differentiators in salary by education, including professional designation and degree held.
I: Hiring Trends To ensure validity of results and allow for inter-country comparisons we present cumulative hiring/firing results versus results by unique job category and region of the United States. This is consistent with other employment indices. In the 2012 report, for the first time since inception, we find the hiring trend line to take a negative slope. This, however, is combined with a decrease in projected layoffs, suggesting net hiring increases. 2012 hiring projections show 46 percent of survey respondents with hiring responsibility anticipate hiring new employees within in the next 12 months, with the vast majority of those (91 percent) planning to hire within one or more of the following operational areas: execution and control of operations, purchasing/customer relationship management (CRM), quality, resources planning, and supply chain management. At the same time, only 11 percent of survey respondents with hiring responsibility anticipate layoffs during the same period of time, a figure that is down from 13 percent year end 2011, 24 percent year end 2010, and 28 percent year end 2009. Respondents were asked to estimate anticipated hiring and layoffs in the five operational areas over the next 0-to-6- and 7-to-12-month periods. Figure 1 shows anticipated hiring and layoffs for operations management professionals primarily engaged in execution and control of operations, purchasing/crm, quality, resources planning, and supply chain management. Figure 1: Percent expecting to hire or layoff in next 12 months
II: Salary/Compensation The results of the 2012 Operations Management Employment Outlook survey continue to be optimistic for earning potential. The salary component of the survey tracks compensation for more than 30 job titles related to supply chain and operations management. Respondents were asked to report not only their current salaries, but also any other cash compensation received. These are combined into total compensation in the report and figures below. For reporting purposes, respondents were grouped into five job categories, including execution and control of operations, purchasing/crm, quality, resources planning, and supply chain management. Table 1 shows salary and other compensation by job category. The average salary for all supply chain and operations management job categories was $91,981, ranging from $102,558 to $71,901. The resources planning job category, with an average salary of $71,901, tends to be among the lowest-paid job categories in supply chain and operations management. To support the usefulness of the data, survey respondents also were asked to provide demographic information including age, gender, education, years of experience, certifications, geographic location, and industry. The results in Tables 2 6 illustrate how compensation averages vary across the above factors. Table 1: Average compensation by job category (in USD) Job category Average salary Average bonus Average total compensation Execution and control of operations $81,307 $8,504 $89,811 Purchasing/CRM $69,322 $7,783 $77,105 Quality* $70,180 $3,124 $73,305 Resources planning $67,410 $4,491 $71,901 Supply chain $85,551 $11,671 $97,222 Other $88,869 $13,689 $102,558 Overall weighted average $81,650 $10,330 $91,981 Average salary across all respondents (salaries weighted by number of respondents in each job category). * Fewer than 25 responses for this category
General Observations Table 2 shows how average compensation levels varied across the seven geographic areas of North America and Canada. Table 2: Average total compensation by geographic area and gender Gender Geographic Area Female Male Average Northwest $67,774 $77,250 $73,460 Southwest $81,094 $102,006 $95,810 North central $68,460 $90,353 $82,569 Midwest $69,098 $95,471 $86,399 South central $80,360 $117,081 $107,605 Northeast $105,702 $120,271 $114,808 Southeast $95,952 $108,381 $103,629 Canada $70,608 $80,281 $77,572 Average weighted by number of respondents in each category. NOTE: No valid data from Alaska or Hawaii. Canadian salaries have been adjusted for currency differences. Figure 1: Geographic regions in North America On average, practitioners in the Northeast and south central United States earned more than those in any of the other geographic regions in North America ($114,808) and ($107,605). Supply chain and operations professionals in the Northwest and north central United States continue to show the lowest annual compensation: ($73,460) and ($82,569). It is promising to note that salaries in the Northeast remained high, and the south central gained in each annual report. Canadian salaries continue to lag compared to average US salaries.
It is not surprising that the data shown in Table 2 suggest that gender plays a role in total compensation. There have been numerous research studies looking at gender bias in salary compensation. Our results indicate that gender bias also may exist for operations management professionals. This is most striking in the south central, Midwest, and north central regions, where females earn 31.4 percent, 27.6 percent, and 24.2 percent less (respectively) than their male counterparts on average. Canada shows gender bias as well, with females earning on average 12 percent less than their male counterparts. Once again, this female/male salary dispersion has been consistent across all data collection periods. To gain further insight into possible gender bias, Table 3 and Figure 3 show average total compensation by job category and gender. Across all respondents, the average total compensation for females is $80,514 compared to $97,304 for males. The gender gap in compensation is most pronounced in the supply chain profession, with males making 51.3 percent more than their female counterparts; meanwhile, females have shown dramatic gains in compensation over their male counterparts, earning approximately 15 percent more in the resources planning job category. For all job categories, compensation for males is approximately 21 percent higher than that of females in equivalent job categories. Table 3: Average total compensation by job category and gender Job category Female Male Average Execution and control of operations $77,609 $93,579 $89,811 Purchasing/CRM $95,033 $106,253 $102,558 Quality** $69,718 $84,492 $77,105 Resources planning $83,050 $71,913 $73,305 Supply chain $54,028 $81,762 $71,901 Other $86,658 $101,448 $97,222 Overall weighted average* $80,514 $97,304 $91,981 *Average salary across all respondents (salaries weighted by number of respondents in each job category) ** Fewer than 25 responses for this category Figure 3: Average salary by job category Note: Average salary includes base salary and bonus compensation
Considering age in combination with gender causes salary discrepancies to be even more pronounced. Table 4 and Figure 4 indicate that the difference in compensation between genders tends to narrow with younger hires. In fact, for all employees under 30 years of age, compensation disparities are less than the overall average shown in Table 3, with females commanding 7.4 percent more than males in the under age 25 category. This may suggest that new policies are being put in place at companies to correct for compensation discrepancy by gender. Table 4: Average total compensation by age and gender Age range Female Male Average <=25** $56,560 $52,672 $53,517 26-30 $55,570 $61,837 $59,542 31-35 $60,283 $75,956 $71,085 36-40 $77,825 $84,579 $82,854 41-45 $88,677 $100,584 $97,111 46-50 $86,799 $113,542 $103,844 51-55 $86,636 $129,682 $112,883 56-60 $101,811 $123,105 $116,007 61-65 $109,500 $111,180 $110,807 66+* $83,000 $116,750 $111,929 Average weighted by number of respondents in each category. *Fewer than 25 responses for this category Table 4: Average salary by age Note: Average salary includes base salary and bonus compensation
Comparing years of experience and with gender (Table 5 and Figure 5) provides a different picture of the male-to-female salary dispersion. Females with less than five years of experience are earning 11.6 percent less than their male counterparts, dropping to 6.6 percent for those with 16-to-20 years of experience. Greater increases in the gap are apparent for practitioners with more than 36 years of experience. Table 5: Average total compensation by years of experience and gender Years of experience Female Male Average <=5 $61,941 $70,075 $67,429 6-10 $57,726 $77,521 $70,503 11-15 $78,015 $86,076 $83,542 16-20 $94,661 $101,397 $99,574 21-25 $91,601 $126,451 $114,671 26-30 $95,627 $128,781 $118,716 31-35 $131,922 $132,665 $132,403 36+ $73,667 $118,515 $109,545 Average weighted by number of respondents in each category. Table 5: Average salary vs. years of experience Note: Average salary includes base salary and bonus compensation
Section III: Education Pays According to our data, employees who hold a bachelor s degree can expect approximately 27.5 percent more than a comparable employee with a high school degree. Dedication to an advanced specialized master s degree increases earning potential by 21.4 percent more on average than a bachelor s degree and 54.8 percent more than a high school degree. Individuals who hold a master of business administration can expect approximately 6 percent higher compensation than those with a specialized master s degree and approximately 64 percent more than those with only a high school degree. When adding in the variable of gender with education, for the first time, we find females with only a high school diploma earning 2.5 percent more than their male counterparts. The compensation gap between male and female employees begins to narrow slightly with advanced degrees. Table 3 shows that males were earning approximately 21 percent more than females for all job categories. Table 6 and Figure 6 show that this gap narrows to approximately 17 percent with a bachelor s degree and 11.4 with a master of business administration. Females who hold specialized master s degrees earn approximately 3.3 percent more than males. Table 6: Average total compensation by education and gender Education level Female Male Average High school $68,854 $67,185 $67,814 Associate or technical $61,249 $93,156 $78,469 Bachelor $77,813 $91,255 $86,461 Master $107,785 $104,301 $104,998 MBA $101,920 $113,573 $111,035 PhD* $122,655 $148,676 $144,959 *Average weighted by number of respondents in each category. Table 6: Average salary by education Note: Average salary includes base salary and bonus compensation
Similar to the surveys conducted in previous years, it is extremely encouraging to note that the share of respondents who have earned APICS certifications continues to increase. Approximately 47 percent of survey respondents hold an APICS CPIM designation and 25 percent currently hold an APICS CSCP designation (Table 7 and Figure 7). Table 7: Average total compensation by certifications Certification % of respondents with certification Average % increase in compensation* APICS CSCP 25.1 percent 20.8 percent APICS CPIM 47.2 percent 13.9 percent *Compared to respondents without the certification Table 7: Average salary by certifications
For those employees holding these advanced certifications, not only do compensation levels increase significantly, but the positive impact on hiring also is extremely strong (Figure 8). Among the respondents in our most recent survey, individuals with the APICS CPIM designation received approximately 14 percent higher compensation compared to those without the designation. Also, 64.5 percent of surveyed APICS CPIM designees see a favorable impact on the hiring decision over those candidates without the certification. Similarly, individuals with the APICS CSCP designation received 21 percent higher compensation on average than those without the certification. Additionally, 62.6 percent of surveyed APICS CSCP designees saw a favorable impact on hiring decisions over those without the certification. Table 8: Impact of certifications on hiring For questions or comments about the research, data collection, or report, please contact: Drew Rosen, Ph.D., Tom Janicki, Ph.D., Steve Mahar, Ph.D. Cameron School of Business University of North Carolina Wilmington (910) 962-3678 Rosenl@uncw.edu For general inquiries about APICS and other APICS research initiatives, please visit apics.org/research or contact: APICS Customer Support (800) 444-2742 or (773) 867-1777 service@apics.org