Advertising and media industry likes them young

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The advertising and media industry pays younger employees better than their more mature counterparts. On average, a 55 year old employee in the industry earns less than a 30 year old in the same position. This is according to the 2007 Careers24.com Salary Survey, the most comprehensive online survey of its kind ever undertaken in South Africa.

Says Geoff Cohen, General Manager of Careers24.com: "The survey results indicate that the average salary in the advertising and media industry is R14 800 with 23% of participants falling into this category. However, when the age/salary breakdown was calculated, an interesting trend was discovered. The results indicted that while the average salary of participants in their 40's is R21 800, this drops off significantly to R16 900 for participants in their 50's. Even staff in their 30's, who have an average monthly salary of R18 300, earn more than the 50-somethings."

Cohen continues: "The results indicate that the salaries in this industry rise gradually and then drop substantially after 55. Does the ad industry promote short careers, do staff move on to more 'serious' positions where they can expect their salaries to continue increasing? It seems not. The results also indicate that 58% of participants in this sector are content with their salaries and work environment. And they have every reason to be happy, just over 70% received salary increases in the past 12 months."

Information areas covered in the Careers24.com Salary Survey included participant's position, what their salary package includes, work experience and recent salary increases. The results explore industry trends in salary packages, gender issues and salary weighting by region. In total, 19 249 responses were received, which makes this one of the biggest independent online recruitment surveys in South Africa, if not the largest.

Cohen concludes: "Careers24.com intends to make this an annual survey which will become the benchmark for salary levels and which will be a ready reference for both employer and employee.

While there are a number of salary surveys in existence, they are all industry specific. Careers24.com conducted the first overarching survey for all industries, professions and jobs. The survey invited South Africans working in all industries to log on to the Careers24.com site and confidentially enter their salary details online.

6% of the survey participants reflected that they are employed in the advertising and media industry. The following information was also revealed about employees within this sector:

Education level:

20% matric
18% university graduates
19% post graduates
36% technikon degree/diplomas
6% other qualifications

Monthly income:

14% - R1 000 - R6 000
37% - R6 001 - R12 000
23% - R12 001 - R18 000
11% - R18 001 - R24 000
6% - R24 001 - R30 000
6% - R30 001 - R50 000
2% - R50 001 +

Competitiveness of remuneration:

9% above average
42% market related
51% below average

Average salary by age:

20's - R10 327.00
30's - R18 255.00
40's - R21 807.00
50's - R16 887.00

Averages:

Average age is 33
Average salary: R14 800
Average percentage of salary for bonus received: 64%
Received salary increase in the past 12 months: 71%
Average of increase: 9%

Contentment level:

Percentage of people feeling bored: 14%
Percentage of people feeling stressed: 29%
Percentage of people feeling content: 58%

The results are reflective of respondents who answered the survey and not of all working South Africans.

The following guidelines will contextualise the results:

12% of working South Africans have access to the internet. The average income of working South Africans who have access to the internet is almost four times that of workers who do not access the Internet.
89% of internet users are in LSM 7-10 and 86% live in urban areas.
The Careers24.com Salary Survey 2007 therefore draws its sample from the top income earners who are predominantly urban LSM 7-10s and are technologically competent i.e. the crème de la crème of our working population.

Sample details:

The study was skewed towards people who had internet access due to its methodology
A good national spread was obtained, with some over-representation of Gauteng (57%) and under-representation of Eastern Cape (3%) and KwaZulu Natal (7%).
There were few under 24s in comparison to the overall Internet user profile due to the nature of study. Ages 24-34 were the most well covered making up a total of 31% of participants.
54% of the participans were male. This is a good male/female split as was the work level representation.
The majority of the sample were full time permanent workers (89%).
Workers in the Information Technology/Telecommunications and Finance fields were the most eager respondents.
Chemicals, Mining, Gas/Water, Education, Manufacturing and Transport seem to have older employees whilst Advertising/Media, Hospitality/Travel and IT/ Telecomms have the youngest.

For more information, please visit www.careers24.com.

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[18 Dec 2007 14:59]