Soaring - Production salaries - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Production salaries are climbing rapidly again, after having slowed last year. Art directors are the exception, however: Their salaries dropped.

After granting only modest salary increases in 1999, magazine publishers ar1 once again showing production pros the money, according to FOLIO:'s 2000 production salary survey. The average pay for production directors rose 9.2 percent, to $70,586, in 2000. For production managers, the increase was even greater-l0.7 percent, to an average of $48,232. For production managers on consumer titles, the hike was a whopping 20.5 percent.

In contrast, average salaries for art directors fell 1.3 percent, to $50,312. For art directors at consumer magazines, the drop was a steep 9.5 percent, to $51,748.

The 2000 results mark a continuation of a five-year trend that has seen compound annual growth of 5.8 percent for production directors, 7 percent for production managers, and 5 percent for art directors. Some feel that growth reflects supply and demand.

"I think there's a huge demand for every position in the industry," says Kathleen Schmatz, group publisher, Babcox Publications. "The pool of available experienced talent is just moderate."

Traditionally, production directors and art directors on the business side have seen their salaries lag behind their consumer counterparts. But that gulf narrowed significantly in 2000. Thanks to a 15.1 percent jump in pay for production directors at business titles, consumer production directors (at $70,664) and trade production directors (at $70,500) are now about even in average salary. Similarly, the 9.5 percent dip for art directors at consumer titles, plus a modest 1.2 percent gain for those on the trade side, means b-to-b ($49,168) is catching up to consumer ($51,748).

Production managers, on the other hand, have traditionally been paid better at trade books. But consumer salaries ($49,651) overtook b-to-b ($46,708) in 2000, driven by the enormous 20.5 percent jump or those at consumer titles.

WHERE CHANGE IS SLOW

Although women in production outnumber men by a three to two ratio, they are paid less on the whole. Males outearned females by an average of $11,000 at the production-director level, by $3,000 on the production-manager level, and by $10,000 on the art-director level. The good news for women: The salary gap closed sharply for production managers-in 1999, the salary difference was $9,000, compared to $3,000 this year-and somewhat less dramatically for art directors (a 1999 gap of $12,000, compared to $10,000 this year).

"I think production has pretty much always been a boys' club; it's only in the last seven to 10 years that it's started to open up to women, says Tammy Rolle, production director at Ebony for the past 15 years. "The funny thing is, I think it's more female-oriented. To be a production director, you need to like to do puzzles, but people who need to do them from A to Z shouldn't be in production there's always something to interrupt you.

On the whole, production workers say they are taking on more responsibility. Some art directors, for instance, cite Web design and Web management as part of their growing list of responsibilities.

METHODOLOGY On February 4, 2000, FOLIO: mailed questionnaires for its 16th annual production salary survey to 2,153 professionals selected on an nth name basis from the FOLIO: database. A follow-up mailing was sent on February 17, 2000, as a reminder for respondents to participate. A total of 367 usable surveys were returned, resulting in an 18 percent response rate. Data was collected between February and March 2000, and analyzed by Intertec Publishing Planning and Research Department. The main objective was to investigate salaries among production and art professionals in the publishing industry, and analyze trends in compensation relative to previous studies. Of the 2,153 respondents, the breakdown is as follows: production directors: 653; production managers: 750; and art directors: 750. Results have been weighted to reflect the following industry makeup: consumer magazines with under 100,000 circulation: 16.5 percent; consumer magazines with more than 100,000 circulation: 33.5 percent; business magazine s with under 100,000 circulation: 33.5 percent; and business magazines with more than 100,000 circulation: 16.5 percent. Results based on fewer than 20 respondents are not reported in the article, as they are not a valid sampling. These results are designated by an asterisk in the charts.

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