Physicists working in the UK earn an average of £32,000 per year, according to the Institute’s 2001 salary survey. This figure – the median salary for the 5400 members who responded to the survey – is 11% higher than the same figure in 1998 (Physics World November 1998 pp53-54, print version only). It is comparable with average salaries in other areas of UK science but falls well short of earnings in the US (see article).

Carried out by Market Research Services, the survey was sent to the 16,000 Institute members working and living in the UK. The 34% of questionnaires that were returned reveal quite a young membership profile – more than half of members are under 40, with 42% of women under 30 years old. However there is still a huge gap between the sexes – men receive a median salary of about £34,000, whereas women get just £24,500, which is explained in part by the difference in age profile. Women make up just 16% of Institute membership, although this figure is up from 13% three years ago.

Salary profile

The survey ranks salary according to job sector and job function, highest qualification obtained, geographical region and age. In the latter category, the median salary peaks between the ages of 50 and 54, at nearly £41,000. In terms of job sector, the highest pay is found in financial services, which pays physicists a median of £40,000 (table 1), up from £31,400 three years ago. The next highest paying sector is the electrical industry, which pays an average salary of £39,800, followed by telecommunications (£39,000) and information systems engineering (£37,100).

When it comes to job function, managers make the most money, with an average of £46,400 (table 2). Next come the few physicists that work in marketing, retail or distribution (£34,900), followed by consultants (£34,000). Teachers, including university lecturers, make an average of £30,700, but those carrying out pure research earn only £25,100 on average.

There are financial benefits to extra study. As shown in table 3, the 45% of physicists who go on to study a PhD earn an average of £35,000 and the few that gain a DSc do especially well financially, since they are paid a median salary of £52,200. Those who study for a masters degree earn £27,500, while those with an honours degree make £30,300. The comparatively low wage for those with a masters degree is likely to be partly due to the recent introduction of four year undergraduate masters courses in physics, which lower the average age, and hence salary, of those with masters degrees.

Geographical location has a bearing on how much a physicist can earn. Apart from the few working in Europe and the Republic of Ireland, those working in London earn the most – £35,000 on average – with those working in the south east of England and the small fraction of physicists working in Northern Ireland earning the next highest median – £33,500. Wales comes bottom of the heap, with a median salary of just £28,000. The south east is home to the most physicists – 26% of the total, down from 30% last time. Some 14% live in London.

One of the new questions included with the survey this time was why members had decided to join the Institute (see table 4). Asked to select from a list of pre-defined choices, the most popular reason for joining was “to identify with the physics community”, which 75% of respondents cited. This reason is particularly important for fellows (88%) and older members, who also were more likely to value the Institute’s work in schools and lobbying government. Gaining access to the Institute’s magazines and publications, however, was more important to associate members and younger members. Acquiring a professional qualification was important for middle aged members.

Working conditions

Members of the Institute are working long hours – two thirds of respondents say they work more than their contracted hours, with 93% working more than 35 hours a week.

Institute members earn a median basic income of £31,000 and get £1600 of additional income. On average, they receive an estimated £2500 of benefits, including pension contribution, private health care and share options.

In terms of career development, 69% of members said that their employer offered to pay for long term training and development programmes. This figure is lower for part time staff and the self employed. Some 88% of respondents said that their employer would consider them undergoing specialist training to enable them to carry out their existing job better. But only 18% said that their employer would agree to them taking broader “learning for life” qualifications.

The survey also looked at physicists’ career satisfaction by asking them to rank certain aspects of their career on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 meaning they were very satisfied and 5 that they were very dissatisfied). The results in table 5 were obtained by taking an average of all the replies. As was the case three years ago, the results show that respondents tend to be fairly satisfied only with technical opportunities but in all other aspects of their career they are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

Asked if they would recommend others to take up physics or engineering at university, a resounding 92% of respondents said they would. Recommending others to take up physics or engineering as a career received a slightly less positive reaction, with 81% saying yes. Some 12% of those advocating the study of physics or engineering at university did not recommend pursing a career in these areas.

1 Median salaries by job sector

Sector	Median salary (£)	No.
Financial services	40 000	101
Electrical industry	39 800	133
Telecommunications	39 000	254
Information systems engineering	37 100	104
Nuclear fuel processing	37 000	74
Electronics/IT manufacture	36 800	209
Light manufacturing	35 000	108
Government/civil service	35 000	160
Other industry	34 400	244
Health	33 600	129
Aerospace	33 400	225
Scientific/technical consultancy	33 300	259
Contract R&D	33 100	79
Instrumentation	33 000	103
Further/higher education college	31 000	197
University	31 000	1080
Other government	30 000	59
School	29 000	380
Research laboratory	28 200	364
Other service	23 800	60

2 Median salaries by job function

Sector	Median salary (£)	%
Management	46 400	17
Marketing/retail/distribution	34 900	1
Consultancy	34 000	10
Administration	31 600	3
Development	31 100	12
Teaching	30 700	16
Technical support	30 000	7
Production	28 300	1
Applied research	28 000	15
Other	27 500	6
Pure research	25 100	11

3 Median salaries by qualification

Highest qualification	Median salary (£)	%
DSc (or equivalent)	52 200	2
HND, HNC	35 000	1
PhD/Dphil	35 000	45
Ordinary/pass degree	31 100	2
Honours degree	30 300	25
Postgraduate diploma	29 800	3
Masters degree	27 500	21
Other	27 200	1

4 Reasons for joining the Institute

Reason	%
To identify with physics community	75
To gain access to the Institute’s magazines and publications	55
To acquire a professional qualification	54
The Institute’s work in schools and lobbying government	33
To benefit from discounts on conference fees	10
Other	6

5 Satisfaction with career

Aspect of career	Level of satisfaction*
Career development	2.7
Salary and conditions	2.8
Technical opportunities	2.4
Training in new techniques	2.6
Initial training	2.5
	*1 = very satisfied, 5 = very dissatisfied