Chemical Engineers’s Salary Finds Pay Equity
A salary survey from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) found that apparent gender disparities are accounted for by time taken off for family reasons—and that time off impacts all engineers— regardless of the gender of the engineer taking such leave.

This is the first year that AIChE accounted for time taken off for family reasons. In previous years, the biennial surveys had shown a gender gap in salary that varied with age and years of experience. In some surveys, early-career women actually earned slightly more than their male counterparts. However, among respondents with more than ten years of experience, women’s median salaries had almost always lagged behind men’s.

When accounting for the time off factor, however, the results of the 2013 survey surprised AIChE staff. Each increment of time taken off for family reasons was associated with reductions in annual salary, on average, of about $4,500, regardless of gender. When that time gets factored in, it explains most of the difference between the sexes seen in reported salaries.

“The family leave factor is an issue we will continue to explore in future salary surveys,” says June Wispelwey, AIChE’s executive director. “We read this as good news, though, for women pursuing a career in chemical engineering.”

Differentials did persist in that most male respondents who took time off were out for three months or less, while female respondents were more likely to take four to six months. This longer family leave time taken by women is seen as a factor in salary gender differences. However, the survey also indicates that once an engineer falls behind due to the family leave factor, he or she does not tend to catch up.

“It’s been five decades since the passage of the Equal Pay Act, and some industries still demonstrate pay in - equity between men and women. This salary survey shows that chemical engineering is a fantastic career that compensates both women and men fairly,” says Wispelwey. “Chemical engineering is a profession with a wide range of career opportunities, which makes a chemical engineering degree increasingly attractive to women. I have seen the opportunities for women grow throughout the course of my career, and would encourage any woman to consider a chemical engineering career.”

The survey, which was based on results from 3,145 AIChE members, also reveals compensation for the profession is rebounding. It reports a median salary of $120,000—9% higher than the $110,000 median of two years ago, when salaries stagnated and raises were at their lowest point in 20 years. Unemployment among chemical engineers has also decreased in the two years since the last survey, to 2.1%, down from 3.8% in 2011.