Education vs. experience: what do employers pay for? IoPP's annual Salary Survey shows that packaging departments want `knowledgable' employees, but offer higher wages to college grads

Food & Drug Packaging, Dec, 2002 by Lisa McTigue Pierce

Here's one way: The Institute of Packaging Professionals offers a program for continuing education with its Certified Packaging Professional exam. The association recently doubled the number of locations of its Fundamentals of Packaging Technology course and recruited and trained eight qualified new instructors.

In addition, IoPP just published the third edition of its "Fundamentals of Packaging Technology," the textbook used for the CPP exam. About 20% of the new edition was rewritten and incorporates more than 30 new illustrations (out of the 300 included) to reflect the latest in packaging technology. Written by packaging veteran Walter Soroka, the 600-page book is an easy-to-read reference for anyone whose responsibilities take them into new areas of packaging technology. Copies are available from IoPP for $165 for members and $215 for non-members.

Does the effort of becoming a CPP pay off? According to the survey, overall, respondents who are Certified Packaging Professionals earn more--at least $1,000 more per year--than their counterparts who are not certified.

This article only covers a portion of the survey results. The full 2002 Salary Survey is available for free to IoPP members. Nonmembers can buy it for $250. Call or go to www.iopp.org/store. The survey is available in PDF format for immediate download after purchase.

Respondents by
experience in packaging

Of the 2002 Salary Survey respondents, the average male has 13.1
years of experience in packaging and the average female has 8.7
years of experience. The number of women joining the industry is still
on the rise. The percentage of packaging professionals with 15 years
experience or less is higher for women than men.

(Base: 727 respondents)

                  Males   Females

2 years or less    11       19
3 to 5 years       17       23
6 to 10 years      24       25
11 to 15 years     12       17
15 to 20 years     12        9
Over 20 years      21        7

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Annual salary (mean) by years of experience

       Less than 2   2.1 to 5   5.1 to 10   10.1 to 15

2002   $48,498       56,351     65,676      77,587
2001   $44,528       53,069     61,928      73,944

       More than 15   All respondents

2002   85,438         69,779
2001   82,692         66,675

As experience goes up, so do wages. For each five years of experience,
packaging professionals can expect their salary to jump about $10,000.

(Base: 712 respondents)

Salary (mean)
by certification

       Certified   Not certified

2002   $69,676     68,224
2001   $66,213     65,505

One in four respondents is a Certified
Packaging Professional (CPP). Overall,
CPPs tends to earn more than colleagues
who are not certified.

(Base: 712 respondents)

Annual salary (mean) by education

       Some        Undergrad   Some           Grad     All
       college     degree      grad studies   degree   respondents

2002    $60,577    63,502      78,210         82,264   69,779
2001    $58,968    60,128      75,367         78,681   66,675

A correlation exists between education and salary.
Respondents with a college degree were also more likely
to get a raise in the past year.

(Base: 712 respondents)

Respondents by education

The majority of respondents are college graduates, with many
specializing in "packaging" education. More than half have their
degree in a packaging science/technology discipline, although this
varies by age. A large percentage (70%) of respondents under 35
have a degree in this area.

(Base: 727 respondents)

Undergraduate degree         52%
Some undergraduate studies   10%
High school only              2%
Doctorate degree              2%
Some doctoral work            1%
Graduate degree              20%
Some graduate studies        13%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Degree in packaging                         By Age
 science/technology   Under 25   25 to 34   35 to 44   45 to 54

                Yes   71%        72%        50%        31%
                 No   29%        28%        50%        69%

Degree in packaging             All
 science/technology   55 to 64  respondents

                Yes   18%       52%
                 No   82%       48%