Salaries certainly are an important factor for job seekers, as are benefits and other forms of compensation. The first survey was completed in 1993, and IPRA continues to use the survey instrument and software developed by William M. Mercer, Inc., a nationally recognized compensation and benefits consulting and research firm. This has enabled us to compute comparisons from six years of salary data and draw some of the following general conclusions.
Salaries paid by agencies vary with the demographics of the agency.
For purposes of comparing salaries of like positions, one must take into consideration the size of the agency's operating budget, its equalized assessed value, the population served, the regional location of the agency, and the overall compensation and benefits philosophy of the board. Generally speaking, the larger an agency the higher the salaries. The actual salaries of individuals vary based on the responsibilities of the job, performance, years in the job, total experience and education level. Other factors to be considered when comparing salaries are benefits that may be offered in lieu of salary such as housing, cars, etcetera. The data includes a total of 2,418 people whose salaries were reported.