BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC’s biennial wage and salary survey for the EMS industry shows a cautious uptick in salary increases in 2011, compared to 2009, the firm says.

Salary increases reported for 2011 average 2.5% for hourly positions, 2.3% for salaried positions, and 2.1% for management positions. By contrast, IPC’s salary study for 2009 reported average annual increases in the range of 1.7 to 1.9%.

The unemployment rate in December stood at 8.5%, well below the 10% mark seen during the recession, says IPC.

Benefit costs in 2010 averaged 21.8% of total wages, down slightly from the 22.7% average seen in 2008.

Most companies that participated in the survey provide retirement benefits to their employees. In 2010 and 2011, 401(k) plans were offered by 82% of those companies, up from 75% in 2008 - 2009.

The study also found that all of the companies provide some form of health insurance to their employees. However, compared to the IPC study in 2009, the 2011 report shows a reduction in the percent of premiums paid by the companies for their employees for certain types of health insurance.

Sixty-nine percent of the respondents formally measure employee satisfaction. Of those, about two-thirds found a direct relationship between employee satisfaction and the implementation of flexible time and personal time off policies.    

Mean and median wages, salaries, bonuses and commissions are reported for 31 specific positions, including technical, administrative, management and sales positions. Commission rates for independent manufacturers’ representatives are also covered.

The survey reported on data from 151 US and Canadian EMS facilities.