MLO's national salary survey.

The results are in from MLO's 1998 national salary survey of medical technologists (MTs) and medical laboratory technicians (MLTs), and the data reflect the overall strengthening of the national economy during the last year.

The downside of that picture, however, is that most respondents appear to be working hard and putting in long hours but feeling less satisfied while doing so, either because of financial or personal reasons. The survey data tells us that the majority (79%) of respondents worked overtime in 1998; and 84% report working the same or more hours as those worked in 1997. Further, 50% report less satisfaction with their jobs than when they first entered their professions, especially for those who are 40 years of age or older.

The data is laid out on the following pages in tables, organized by profession. The pieces of information given vary according to the response rate for each question. If too few responses were given to make significant comparisons, those data were not included. For example, the overall base salary for medical laboratory technicians was not broken down by gender, region, and education because the base, or number of responses in those categories, was too low.

Survey methodology

MLO commissioned Research Services of Medical Economics to conduct a nationwide study among laboratorians to gather and analyze data on the compensation of clinical laboratory employees. In the past, the survey group was composed solely of MLO readers. This year, however, that sample was broadened so that the results could be made projectable to the entire laboratory universe. This study examines important issues such as salaries, bonuses, overtime, general working conditions, and job satisfaction. The specific time frame for salary discussion is 1997 and 1998.

To perform this study, a stratified random sample of two targeted lab professions - medical technologist and medical lab technician - was used. Each laboratorian was mailed a four-page questionnaire, and a $2 incentive was provided for returning the completed questionnaire. On April 2, 1999, 2,400 questionnaires were mailed to medical technologists and medical lab technicians around the country, and on the cutoff date, May 10, 1999, 517 useable questionnaires were returned, resulting in a response rate of 22%. Originally, the study was designed to include cytotechnologists and histotechnologists, but the response rate from these two groups was too low to include in this report.

Survey respondents

In general, medical technologists and medical laboratory technicians are stable professionally. The average MT [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] who responded to this survey has maintained his or her job title for 13 years, and the average MLT for 12 years. The average respondent (of both groups) has been employed at their current lab for 12 years and has been in the lab profession for 21 years.

Eighty-one percent of respondents work full-time, averaging 38 hours a week. As for places of employment, 48% are employed by nonprofit hospital labs, 13 % by POLs, and 12% by independent labs.

Most of the surveyed laboratorians (83 %) are paid on an hourly basis, and the annual average salary is $37,033, with higher salaries on the coasts ($39,493 in the East and $41,496 in the West). As mentioned previously, more than three quarters of the respondents work overtime, doing so an average of 27 weeks out of 52 and 5 hours per week. Laboratorians in the East are working longer hours than their counterparts in the rest of the country with an average of 6 hours of overtime per week. Typically, employers are paving time-and-a-half for overtime (72%), but 11% of the survey's respondents received no overtime compensation at all.

Seventy-four percent of the respondents are female, and the average age of all respondents is 45. More than half of all respondents have earned a BS/BA degree, while 13 % have continued their education to earn advanced degrees (MS/MA, 10%; MBA, 2%; and PhD, 1%). The most common certification for participating medical technologists is the MT(ASCP) (49%), and the MET (ASCP) is most typical (58%) for medical laboratory technicians.