Some sociology faculty salaries edge up: New research brief

The ASA Department of Research has released its 2012-2013 analysis of salary trend data for the academic sociology profession and other social sciences. Among our findings: average annual faculty salary changes between Academic Year (AY) 2011/12 and AY 2012/13 show slow or no growth in salaries at public institutions, compared to private institutions.

FACULTY: What happened in the past academic year to salaries at your institution?  Why?

New Data on Sociology and Social Science Faculty Salaries

Our latest brief, “Two Years of Lost Purchasing Power: 2011 – 2012 Faculty Salary Brief for Sociology and Other Social Science Disciplines,” discusses trends in faculty salaries. For this brief, we use data from the National Faculty Salary Survey, collected by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).

You can find other research briefs available to download for free on our website.

Looking for Data on Sociology?

Want to know how many bachelors degrees were awarded in sociology in 1990? Or maybe how sociology faculty salaries compare to political science? You can find this, and other data on sociology and social science degrees and enrollment, employment, funding, and sociology programs, as well as ASA membership on our Trend Data page. Links to similar datasets can be found on our Data Resources page.

The Job Market in Sociology: Findings and Upcoming Surveys

Our annual research brief on sociology and social science faculty salaries, “Falling Behind: Sociology and Other Social Science Faculty Salaries, AY 2010-2011“, is now available on our website. Data from the National Faculty Salary, conducted annually by the College & University Professional Association of Human Resources (CUPA-HR), shows that not only did social science faculty salaries fail to outpace inflation between academic years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, but that salary increases in recent years have become incrementally smaller. Not surprisingly, raises were larger at private institutions for most social science disciplines (economics is the exception).

In other job market-related research, we are preparing to go into the field with this year’s follow-up to the annual ASA Job Bank Survey. In addition to an audit of all jobs advertised in the Job Bank and regional society listservs in 2010, we will be surveying departments to determine the status of assistant and open rank faculty positions advertised during this period. Findings from this study will be available later this summer. Last year’s findings can be found in “Still a Down Market: Findings from the 2009/2010 Job Bank Survey.”

Examining the Pay Gap: Faculty Salaries at Public and Private Institutions

In a new databrief, we compare average annual faculty salaries in sociology departments at public and private institutions during academic years 2002-03 and 2009-10. We also compare these salaries to other social sciences. Read more in The Gap in Faculty Pay Between Private and Public Institutions: Smaller in Sociology than in Other Social Sciences.

And as always, we invite you to post your comments, questions, and suggestions about this topic. Please do not include your full name if you wish to remain anonymous as these are publicly displayed. 

Join the Discussion: What’s Happened to Salaries in Your Department?

JOIN THE DISCUSSION: What happened to salaries in your department? We are also interested to know which measure of inflation your institution uses.

Click here to comment on this post. Do not include your name if you wish to remain anonymous.

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The Red and Black

With significant budget shortfalls in the last two years, college and university administration have implemented cuts in pay, benefits, and hires. Some departments have even found themselves at risk of significant restructuring or elimination. The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), which conducts an annual survey of faculty salaries, reports that salaries for more than half of all faculty either remained unchanged or declined between Academic Years (AY 2008-2009 and 2009-2010). The American Association of University Professionals (AAUP), which also conducts an annual salary survey, reported this week in The Chronicle of Higher Education the lowest raises for professors in 50 years.

Each year, the Research Department publishes a research brief on sociology faculty salaries using data from the National Faculty Salary Survey conducted by the CUPA-HR. This data is useful for making comparisons among disciplines and faculty rank. In these briefs, we focus on trends in the annual salaries of sociology faculty across ranks since AY 2000-20001, and compare these to those in other social science disciplines.

Our latest research brief, Sociology Faculty See Smaller Raises but Still Outpace Inflation in AY 2009-2010: Other Social Science Disciplines Not Able to Recoup Losses shows that salary growth has slowed. Average sociology faculty salaries increased, but by the smallest amount in the past decade.

Click on the Comment Section below to share your experiences about changes in your department.  Do not include your name if you wish to remain anonymous.

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Sociology Faculty Salaries, AY 2008-2009

Now available to the public: Sociology Faculty Salaries, AY 2008-09

While inflation outpaced faculty salaries, sociology still fared better than other social sciences according to data from the 2009 National Faculty Salary Survey conducted by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (www.cupahr.org).

Download (PDF) and comment on the new research brief.