Grossly underpaid clerical workers at District 150

According to a person who currently sits on the County Board, the Executive Secretary over at the County makes $58,000 per year. How does that salary compare with the salary executive secretaries receive at District 150?

The salary information shown in the pjstar indicates that salaries in payroll and human resources average at $25,000 per year for secretaries. Unfortunately many of the secretaries who have been at the District for the longest periods of time and who have always been under the union contract are averaging $17,000 per year, with those at the highest levels (and ready to retire) capping out at $20,000 per year (and less).

Average Salaries of Administrative Professionals
According the job search engine Simply Hired, www.simplyhired.com, jobs with the title of Executive Secretary currently command an average national salary of $52,000. A comparison to average salaries of other job titles in the same general category yields the following figures:

◦Secretary -- $33,000
◦Executive Assistant -- $43,000
◦Executive Assistant to the President -- $54,000

Variables that Affect Executive Secretary Salary (IMO these variables cannot effectively be negotiated by a union not specific to clerical workers)
Salaries for Executive Secretaries cover a wide range and are controlled by a number of common variables. Average salary figures are not accessible for every variable, let alone every combination of variables; however, available statistics suggest some broad patterns. The following outlines some of these common variables:

◦Experience
◦Seniority
◦Education, Training and Certification
◦Industry or sector of the economy
◦Size of organization
◦Geographic location
◦Benefits package

Employer
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, combines Executive Secretaries with administrative assistants and provides mean salaries. Broken down by employer type, their figures for that combined category are as follows:

◦Colleges and universities -- $39,760
◦Local governments -- $41,740
◦Businesses -- $45,280
◦Financial firms -- $49, 610
◦Federal government -- $52,970

Size of Company
Executive Secretaries working for larger companies usually earn more. Median salary figures provided by Salary.Com show the following when broken down by number of employees in the business:

◦25-100 employees -- $45,100
◦100-500 employees -- $47,300
◦over 15,000 employees -- $52,600