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All three have worked with federal statistics and can quickly explain statistical data so that even a congressman can understand. They typically get two questions right now: are we in a recession and when will the price go down? They can't tell us because they took an oath ;-)

The definition of a recession (two consecutive negative quarters) is wrong. Recession is a decline in economic activity, pervasive enough to affect various sectors. According to the most recent numbers, except for exports, we would be in a recession.

The average post-war recession is 8 mths, the longest is 18 mths. Don't make long-term decisions on short-term factors. There's no way to really tell when the current recession started, but we should be on the upswing within the year.

Rick has heard people say that recessions are good for consultants, but that's not usually true. Rumor has it that businesses let go of employees and then hire consultants, when the truth is that businesses let consultants go first. But as a result, productivity tends to go up because fewer people are doing the work. (Must be a numbers thing.)

We need to focus on what numbers are slowing down and which are speeding up. We are seeing a decline in financial services, such as housing and construction, and an incline in items such as health care. What's going to be driving the economy is lifestyle, career changes, costs in health care. If you are thinking about a job search, go to where the jobs are growing (like those driving the economy).

Several nice goals of this session: make a case for a raise/new salary level, compare wages in different industries, and estimate labor costs for a TC project by industry. Rick pointed out the results of the latest survey about jobs.

The old STC salary survey is in "drydock". The methodology is inconsistent with other salary surveys. The audience for a TC salary survey is not the member, but the HR department. When they submitted the old survey to HR managers for analysis, they were told that the data was invalid. Employees provided the data, not employers, and typically the folks who respond to a salary survey are those looking for work who typically inflate their salary.

There was also a lack of consensus on the job titles...need to use the descriptions.

OES is a short-term statistical bridge, already used by employers, and lists 801 positions with geographic and industry detail. Cassidy and Lori will show us how to use the salary data.

Someone in the audience asked why the old survey had to be discontinued while the new one was being worked on because the old survey was useful to many users. However, Susan Burton took the podium and stated that it would have been unethical for STC to continue to post the old survey. For example, the old survey collected information by title (manager, director, etc.) and was limited (one region collected information from only five people, whose information represented the entire region).

Ms. Burton said that one person had contacted her after last year's survey was released to say "thanks" because the old survey showed that the two people in Reno were making more than folks in Silicon Valley. Another stated that people were inflating the data because that was the point.

Someone in the audience stated that her employer has already stated the value of the new survey to her, and wouldn't let her use the old survey as a reference for a raise.

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is produced by the BLS (under the Dept of Labor), which is the only source for complete data for 801 occupations in the US. These data are used by job seekers and employers, and used for salary ranges for certain occupations.

Data is collected in six semi-annual panels of 1.2 million establishments. Someone asked, if the data is tied to the old definition of "tech writer", how valid is this information if "technical communicator" is not being used? Rick answered that the new definition that has been submitted to the BLS committee has not yet been adopted and not even agreed on, even within STC.

The description in the Knowledge-based Survey of two weeks ago is a better definition than what we had before. The question will be to find out if the rise and fall of the salaries of tech writers and tech communicators are similar, even if the base salaries are not.

The survey is based on standard definitions for these occupations based on FT and PT employees. Everything is based on an hourly wage that puts FT and PT on parity.

The OES includes everything to do with productivity (base, cost-of-living allowances, etc.). Back pay, overtime, jury duty, etc. and other pay not based on production are not included. Neither are benefits. (The benefits are listed separately on the BLS database.)

Tech writer information is gathered at an hourly rate. The current data (2007) shows that TW info ranges from $17.54 (10t percentile) to $45.46 (90th percentile), across the US. (Numbers are nationwide averages.)

Information is gathered by job description, not job title. This lets the BLS compare apples to apples.

Currently, technical writers are included with media and communication fields at line 27-3042. According to Rick, TWers are special and shouldn't be lumped with other writers. (This information is similar to information gathered in Canada, and Rick is working with them to try to break it out there, too.)

TWers were found to be employed 187 metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, and 161 areas. Cannot break information out by area by industry. IOW, you can't find out what the salary in your region for your industry would be. They can tell you what the salary should be for TWs in a specific area (for example, Lynn) or an industry (airplanes), but if because industries tend to be big within a given geographic area, you can't get the information because they would be giving you the salaries paid by a specific company (in this case, GE).

The data does NOT include self-employed or contracted (1099) workers. It does take into account the differences between government and industry salaries.

Rick's reiterating that they don't use titles because they're misleading, because they don't consistently reflect responsibilities.

The duties performed by TWs are in the definitions. Rick says that they are defining the value of tech communicators, and the next step is to define the duties (functional definitions that can be given to the HR department, because that's missing right now).

Only one category will be added to the BLS list, not one per type of technical communicator. Rick says that we're all here in this room because we have things in common, and part of the problem is that everyone always defines their position by how it's different. A profession includes a unique body of knowledge (being worked on now), which defines that commonality.

Cassidy defined percentiles (10th percentile means that 10% of all people make less and 90% make more). The percentiles change at slightly different rates. Rates did go up from May 2006 through May 2007 (anywhere from 3.3% to 5.3%, depending on percentile).

Statisticians have one joke. (Statisticians like numbers, but didn't have personality to become an accountant.) Three statisticians ar in a duck blind when a flock goes over. The first shoots 6" over a duck. The second shoots 6" under a duck, and the third says we got one! This is why averages aren't always the best to use.

Data is updated annually. Most of the data we're looking at was just released. The data on the STC site is the same data as the BLS data, just customized.

BLS doesn't currently collect information on technical communicators because there's no definition for them. BLS was willing to consder this, but there was no data at that time to back up the new definition, so that's what they've been working on.

How you should look at the data depends on how transferable your knowledge skills are, how specialized is your experience, what regions are best for you. It depends on how you define the search. The PPT has charts with numbers, etc. The 2006 data is on the website for comparison. (He didn't say which site, but he probably means BLS.)

Some data is not released because it could compromise the industry. Other times, it's because the amount of data collected was really small. Data is published nationwide (50 states, DC, Guam), 375 metropolitan statistical areas, 34 metropolitan areas, 75 non-metropolitan areas.

Someone asked if information could be published by ZIP code. However, ZIP codes are used by the post office for mail distribution. For example, the Census building has its own ZIP code. It's not a good reference.

PPT includes a chart showing media pros in insurance agencies and brokerages. TWs make more than other writers in that industry. (This was a sample industry that they chose for an example.)

Someone asked if information could be published by ZIP code. However, ZIP codes are used by the post office for mail distribution. For example, the Census building has its own ZIP code. It's not a good reference.

PPT includes a chart of metropolitan areas of largest concentration of the workforce that shows total employment, mean hourly wage, and percent of MSA employment.

The best paying metropolitan areas are considered separate markets. The data could be used by people living in a region close by and use that for a raise. The data is not broken out by age.

The ECI shows how numbers change over time. It's used to update data when publishing the OES. You can see changes in percentages over the year.

The PPT shows how the BLS calculates the percent of change. Individuals would use this when asking for a raise.

BTW, the PPT will be available through SlideShare later today. I just have to get it uploaded. (Hat tip to Sarah O'Keefe for telling me about SlideShare!)|

PPT includes questions and answers sent to STC, a list of resources and URLs, and email addresses to use if you have questions.

Rick reiterated that the old survey was pulled because of GIGO and also because maintaining it was not a good use of our dues.