Assessing the Landscape of U.S. Postdoctoral Salaries

Abstract

Purpose: Postdocs make up a significant portion of the biomedical workforce. However, data about the postdoctoral position are generally scarce, including salary data. The purpose of this study was to request, obtain and interpret actual salaries, and the associated job titles, for postdocs at U.S. public institutions. Methodology:Freedom of Information Act Requests were submitted to U.S. public institutions estimated to have at least 300 postdocs according to the National Science Foundation's Survey of Graduate Students and Postdocs. Salaries and job titles of postdoctoral employees as of December 1st, 2016 were requested.Findings: Salaries and job titles for over 13,000 postdocs at 52 public U.S. institutions and 1 private institution around the date of December 1st, 2016 were received, and individual postdoc names were also received for approximately 7,000 postdocs. This study shows evidence of gender-related salary discrepancies, a significant influence of job title description on postdoc salary, and a complex relationship between salaries and the level of institutional NIH funding.Value: These results provide insights into the ability of institutions to collate actual payroll-type data related to their postdocs, highlighting difficulties faced in tracking, and reporting data on this population. Ultimately, these types of efforts, aimed at increasing transparency, may lead to improved tracking and support for postdocs at all U.S. institutions.

United States National Postdoc Survey results and the interaction of gender, career choice and mentor impact

“…In other words, female postdocs earned less than male postdocs, regardless of type of institution, marital status, parental status, or majority/minority status. This gender wage gap increased with postdoc age but not with partnership status, partially supporting previous analyses of the STEM gender wage gap (Association of American University Professors, 2006; Athanasiadou et al, 2018).…”

Career Choice, Gender, and Mentor Impact: Results of the U.S. National Postdoc Survey

“…The gender disparity in pay occurs even after male and female postdocs were matched in age, years since graduation, mentor satisfaction, and likelihood of being married/partnered (nominal logistic model, gender effect test n=7,311, χ 2 =47.235, p<0.0001, Table S4). This gender wage gap increased with postdoc age but not with partnership status, partially supporting previous analyses of the STEM gender wage gap 20,21 . Male postdocs were also more likely than women to have received PhD degrees in Engineering (n=620, χ 2 =76.652, p<0.0001) or the Physical Sciences (n=846, χ 2 =77.466, p<0.0001), two fields which have historically higher salaries 22 .…”