Salary Compression in the Association of Research Libraries

Using salary data from the ARL Annual Salary Survey, this paper analyzes 2003-2004 salary data for evidence of salary compression. It reviews the concept of salary compression to explain its relationship to market salary rates and salary dispersion within an organization. The analysis utilizes comparison ratios between salaries and years of service of the 16 formally defined ARL position classifications. For each position classification (i.e., reference librarian, cataloger, circulation department head, and so on) average salaries are analyzed at the entry level, mid-career, and senior level for evidence of salary compression. It finds evidence for salary compression for several ARL position classifications between the mid- and senior-career levels. It finds no evidence that entry-level salaries are causing compression among mid-career librarians. However, the comparison ratio technique used to investigate evidence of compression precludes drawing larger conclusions for the reasons such compression exists.