December 3, 2004—The annual ASIS International U.S. Employment Survey done by Security Management magazine reveals that the median salary for security professionals in the United States rose 8.3 percent from 2002 to 2003. Security professionals employed by publicly traded companies and who are managing facilities in more than one country saw the greatest increase; the sectors that saw salaries rise the fastest were entertainment, hospitality, and gaming. A total of 3,861 valid responses were received, and of those, 1,771 supplied both their 2002 and 2003 salaries for direct comparison.
Certifications definitely enhance earnings. CPPs earned a median of $80,000-11 percent more than the overall median for respondents ($73,000).
More than a quarter of those surveyed either had a Certified Protection Professional (CPP) designation from ASIS, or were working on attaining it.
Four percent held the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) designation and six percent held certifications from other professional sources.
Among other points of note 1,752 respondents addressed whether security budgets were up, down, or about the same from the prior year. One-third said budgets were up. Almost half of respondents (45 percent) reported that their security budgets had remained the same from 2002 to 2003, and 22 percent said theirs had decreased. Nearly 40 percent of respondents worked for companies with gross revenues of more than $500 million.
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