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The information technology (IT) sector has the highest median wage in the Indian economy at Rs 341.8 an hour. The lowest median wage is found in the education and research sector at Rs 186.5 an hour, 45 per cent less than that of IT.
These are the findings of Monster Salary Index, a joint initiative of Monster India and Paycheck.in, with Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad as a research partner.
The report looked into overall median wages in India’s economy as well as median wages by several sectors such as construction and technical consultancy, education and research, financial services, banking and insurance, healthcare, social work, IT services, legal and market consultancy, business activities, manufacturing, transport and logistics. According to the index, finance pays the second-most lucrative salary of Rs 291 an hour. Overall, the Monster salary index shows the median gross salary in the construction sector stood at Rs 259 an hour, healthcare (Rs 215), legal (Rs 215.6), and manufacturing and transport (Rs 230.9).
Commenting on the findings, Monster India managing director (India/Middle East/Southeast Asia/Hong Kong) Sanjay Modi said: “The striking observation has been the resemblance between IT and the education & research sector in terms of the gender pay gap. The IT sector, in spite of being the most modern sector in the country is not only predisposed to a certain gender, but is also paying less to women employees than their male counterparts, with a grave pay gap of 34 per cent. The difference is most pronounced among experienced workers in supervisory positions.”
Across global and US segments, the same survey indicates females in the workplace are not being compensated in the same way as male counterparts.
Modi added the while education & research sector is also male-dominated, the sector employs relatively more women compared to other sectors. This partly explains the relatively low wages in the sector. The pay gap, however, remains quite high at 18 per cent. Women are even less represented among supervisors in the education & research sector than on average national figures computed in this study. Notably, men in the field enjoy rising income with growing work experience (albeit at relatively modest rate), while the effect is not visible for women after five years of experience.
However, those with doctorate in the education sector earn a median wage of Rs 350.5 an hour. With booming demand for education in India, the search for qualified teachers and professors could potentially push wages higher, the salary index notes.
“The level of education is one of the major factors influencing wages in India. In general, it pays off to invest in a four of five-year degree in India. Such advanced education comes with over Rs 100 per hour premium in comparison with the three-year Bachelor’s degrees. Nevertheless, a three-year degree still brings a Rs 80 per hour premium over 10+2 or equivalent higher secondary education. In general, it is beneficial to invest in education in order to obtain higher returns in future, in terms of wages,” the survey states.
While larger companies pay higher wages than smaller ones, there is also a clear difference in higher median wages paid by foreign firms compared to lower median wages given by domestic companies.
Taking higher wages as a signal for greater efficiency in foreign firms, there is scope for further integration of processes and methods between both types of companies.
Median wages for female staff continue to lag that of male staff in every sector, as well as with respect to supervisory positions held by both female and male.
The survey notes that bonuses and overtime pay are not prevalent forms of compensation in India. When bonuses arise, they are mainly distributed in the manufacturing sector, and the median bonus amount is also higher than in other sectors.
“Very few firms acknowledge overtime work hours or weekend work hours in terms of monetary benefits. This is evident from the analysis of our sample data, wherein only 6.6 per cent received weekend allowance and only 5.8 per cent received some overtime bonus. Most of the firms consider working beyond office hours as a part of the job, and do not believe in compensating employees for extra hours,” the survey notes.
Likewise, satisfaction with life is higher in the manufacturing sector compared to other sectors.
The analysis takes into account the period between first quarter of 2012 up to December 2014 for wages and till the first quarter of 2014 for working conditions and satisfaction.
The sample used for the analysis consists of 35,929 respondents, approximately 85.7 per cent of which were men. Respondents from different age groups, varied industries, and various hierarchical positions in their respective occupations were included in the sample.
Being an online volunteer survey, the data is biased towards those who have access to the internet and are inclined to complete the questionnaire. Because of this limitation, the data was able to capture only the organised sector in India.
