How do starting salaries compare to median or average salaries?
Starting salaries are usually the lowest amount employers will pay for work, Brennan says. Companies expect new hires to know less about a new position, so they typically start them lower than someone with an established track record. “Employers generally take care to assure that entry starting rates match the hiring market requirement and that new folks will start at a lower salary than veteran job peers,” he says. Median salaries are the amount in the center between the lowest and highest paid compensation. If workers in an organization are paid $30,000, $45,000 and $50,000, the median salary at that company would be $45,000. Average salaries are the product of the sum total of all the salaries, divided by the number of observations. With the above figures, for example, the average salary would be $41,666. “Median salaries are better measures of ‘normal’ pay, being central values. Averages can swing wildly with the addition of extremely high or low values to the group,” Brennan says.
