Report in PDF Format
Overview
This salary survey report is prepared by the Department of Human Resources (CalHR) as required by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the state and the Professional Engineers in California Government (PECG).
The Department and PECG jointly completed the 2023 Unit 9 salary survey. Although the current MOU requires this survey to be completed, it also states that salary increases for Unit 9 employees as a result of a lag in the survey, “shall not be provided during the term of this MOU.”
The survey results indicate that the state lags behind in maximum base pay for its engineers. The table below illustrates the lag for each working level.
Methodology
Memorandum of Understanding Survey Requirement
This salary survey was initiated and completed based on the requirements outlined in Article 3.1 of the MOU effective July 2, 2003 through July 2, 2008. Over time the Department and PECG agreed to a detailed methodology. By the terms of the current MOU
1 (effective July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025), the surveyed agencies and benchmark comparisons may only be changed upon mutual agreement between the Department and PECG.
Article 3.1 of the MOU requires the Department to:
-
Annually survey the 18 public agencies and 10 University of California campuses used in the December 2002 survey.
- Calculate the salary lead or lag based on the weighted average of maximum salaries of employees in the surveyed organization’s previously agreed upon classifications.
State of California’s Benchmark Job Classifications
For this survey, the required three benchmarks for the state are:
- Transportation Engineer (Civil) Range A/B
- Transportation Engineer (Civil) Range D
- Senior Transportation Engineer
Survey Lag Calculation
The agreed upon methodology requires a comparison to be made between the State of California’s maximum salary to the weighted average maximum salary for the surveyed organizations.
There are two parts to the survey lag calculation. The first part weights the maximum salary of each surveyed organization by the total number of engineers in the comparable classification(s) in each organization. This is done separately for the entry level, journey level, and first level supervisor categories, resulting in a separate weighted average salary for each level.
The second part of the lag computation compares the weighted average salary for the surveyed organizations with the maximum salary of the state benchmark engineer classification. The percentage difference is the survey lag. A separate lag is computed for entry level, journey level, and first level supervisors.
To illustrate how the lag is calculated the table below uses fictitious salary, incumbent counts, and organizations.
Lag Calculation Anomalies
There are two unique anomalies affecting the lag calculation.
The first is a few of the surveyed organizations use two classifications for either entry or journey level. Five surveyed organizations used two classifications for the entry level, and one surveyed organization used two classifications for the journey level.
For those organizations using two classifications for a single level, the Department combined the incumbent counts for the two classifications, and then weighted the survey using the higher-salaried classification by the combined incumbent count.
The second anomaly affecting the lag calculation is the additional pay that the City of San Diego provides their engineers for possessing a state certification as a Registered Engineer.
The City of San Diego pays an additional 15 percent of salary to its employees in the journey level and first level supervisor classifications for possessing state certification as a Registered Civil Engineer. To compute the survey’s salary lag, 15 percent of pay was added to the maximum salary, and then was weighted by an incumbent count.
PECG and the Department agreed on the application of the two anomalies for the survey methodology.
Survey Results
Salary Lag for Entry Level, Journey Level, and First Level Supervisors
The survey results for the state’s three benchmark job classifications are displayed below.
As agreed upon in the current MOU, rank and file civil service job classifications in Unit 9 are not automatically entitled to salary increases to compensate for any salary disparity (or “lag”) between Unit 9 salaries and benchmark comparisons used in this survey.
