Cleared Salaries Heating Up as Defense Budgets Grow

NEW YORK, June 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- After several years of relatively flat salaries, government shutdowns and salary freezes, salaries for security-cleared workers are beginning to heat up. According to the 2018 ClearanceJobs Compensation Survey results, total compensation for all surveyed security-cleared professionals is $93,004, up 7% since 2017.

"Today, we have a great need for professionals with the right skills and the right eligibility," said Evan Lesser, founder and president of ClearanceJobs.com. "The end of sequestration and record growth in the Pentagon budget – along with the difficulty in issuing new clearances – has created incredibly high demand for cleared professionals, particularly those in specialized technical fields such as data science and IT engineering."

The top five highest paid industries are Engineering with an average total compensation of $102,012 and IT with an average total compensation of $90,699. The highest paid jobs are Systems Engineer, with average total compensation of $122,386 and IT-Software with average total compensation of $121,026.

Those with Intelligence Community security clearances earn a premium, with average total compensation of $122,243. An Intelligence Community security clearance earns 20% more than a DoD-issued Top Secret security clearance and 54% more than a DoD Secret security clearance.

Defense Budgets Growing, Talent Pool Shrinking

Today's increasing salary figures reflect the supply/demand trends of the cleared workforce. The government has reduced the number of DoD security clearances by more than 30 percent since 2013, from a high of 5.1 million to under 3.4 million. Security clearance processing times are also at record highs. It currently takes an average of 534 days to process a DoD Top Secret security clearance. With a 700,000+ investigation backlog this means only a slow trickle of new talent into an already shallow pool.

As the cleared workforce dwindles, defense industry recruiters also face a strengthening non-cleared commercial sector. In May the national unemployment rate reached 3.8% (Bureau of Labor Statistics), the lowest figure since December of 2000.

That competition is increasing the premium pay for experience. The demographic earning the highest increases are those with ten years of experience or more. Senior-level career professionals saw a 10% increase compared to 2017, and management-level professionals saw a 9% increase. That may reflect a desire by employers to retain – and pay a premium – to keep their higher-level employees, particularly in a tight applicant market where experience is not easily replaced.

Despite rising salaries, satisfaction rates have fallen by 11% since last year. In addition, the salary numbers needed to keep candidates happy increased. In 2017, cleared professionals with a base salary of $83,140 were "very satisfied" with their jobs. This year, that figure skyrocketed up 24% for an average salary of $103,264 for security-cleared professionals indicating they were "very satisfied."

"With competition for cleared talent increasing, professionals may be expecting more compensation in order to view their compensation (and jobs) favorably in a competitive marketplace," said Evan Lesser.

Lower job satisfaction also plays into another trend indicated by survey respondents – job hopping. A remarkable 84% of survey respondents said they were "likely" to change jobs in the coming year - a 20% growth over the prior year.

Read more survey results in our comprehensive Salary Report.

ClearanceJobs Salary Survey Methodology 
The 2018 ClearanceJobs Compensation Report was administered online between October 30, 2017 and February 9, 2018. Participants had to have a current, active federal security clearance and be currently employed to be included in the results, which included 20,883 usable responses.

About ClearanceJobs 
ClearanceJobs is the largest security-cleared career network specializing in defense and intelligence jobs for professionals with security clearance. ClearanceJobs is committed to connecting security-cleared professionals and employers in a secure and private environment to fill the jobs that safeguard our nation.

Media Contact:
Lindy Kyzer
ClearanceJobs
202.374.4291
[email protected]

SOURCE ClearanceJobs.com