Earnings by industrial sector

Learn how environment professionals' rate of pay differs in different sectors with the results of the IEMA practitioners' survey 2012

Figure 2 (below) reveals the median total annual earnings, including bonuses and other extra-salary payments, for environment professionals in each industrial sector. It shows that practitioners working in financial and legal services have the highest earnings, with a margin of £7,000 over the next highest industry – electricity and gas supply and generation.

Environment professionals working in charitable organisations can expect to earn the lowest incomes (£29,450), followed closely by those working in environment consultancies (£30,000).

Where meaningful comparison is possible, environment professionals taking part in the IEMA survey earn significantly more than those employees working in these sectors generally. For example, according to the government’s 2011 ASHE, the median annual pay for financial and insurance activities is £35,697 compared with £53,000 for an IEMA practitioner based in financial and legal services.

The ASHE survey pegs annual pay at £36,202 for the electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply sector, compared with £46,000 for an environment professional working in a similarly defined industry in this IEMA survey.

Table 2 (below) shows the average and median earnings for the sectors included in figure 2 – indicating that the private sector dominates most of the higher-earning groups.

Table 2a (below) shows a regional earnings profile for practitioners, and at £39,500 reveals the north of Scotland as the highest-earning median region (probably due to the concentration of oil and gas companies in the region), followed by the South East at £38,000.

This regional pattern is out of kilter with official statistics for earnings trends across the country. After London (always in a league of its own in respect of income levels) the 2011 ASHE pitches the highest median annual pay, at £27,881, in the South East.

In fifth place, Scotland was ranked lower on the regional earnings, with median annual pay pegged at £25,490. With some regions boasting a relatively small sample size in the IEMA survey, including Scotland North at 3.1%, some of the regional findings need to be treated with caution.

Read the full survey results:

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