While job insecurity and modest pay hikes characterized most of America's labor market in the
last year, food industry professionals report respectable salary boosts
and rising levels of job security.
The 24th annual Food Engineering Salary and Job Satisfaction Survey paints a workforce portrait considerably more settled than the general economy's. Asked if their feelings of job security improved, worsened or stayed the same in the last year, respondents provided their most optimistic answers in years (see Anxiety Index: Dialing Down above). Salaries increased an average of 4.8 percent for those who received a pay boost, compared to 3.5 percent projected for all American workers in a WorldatWork survey of human-resources directors. With the Consumer Price Index increasing a modest 2.2 percent in the last 12 months, that leaves those food professionals with a healthy 2.6 percent boost in purchasing power.