The Market Research and Consumer Insights 2022 job market exploded out of the pandemic, and candidates stood their ground in an effort to make remote work happen. Well, it happened. Smith Hanley Associates’ Executive Recruiters Lindsey Bartlett, Daniel Wilberschied and Pierson Wofford are here to recap market research salaries in 2022 – all from the perspectives of the candidates they’ve worked with as well as their client companies.
These market research salaries in 2022 (and 2021) are based on positions we have filled and worked on filling. Some of the ranges are wide as they include outliers in high or low cost of living areas and within different industries. As you can see, there has been a substantial increase in compensation across both client and supplier companies. Here are four reasons for that compensation increase:
Candidate Demand
2022 was a candidate’s market. The demand for higher salaries was a driving force when candidates weighed several offers at once. In order to stay competitive, companies were forced to increase compensation for external offers as well as internal salary bands.
Inflation
Global inflation has risen to 8.8% from 4.7% in 2021, forcing companies to stay competitive by increasing real wages.
Increased Marketing Spend
According to a Gartner survey completed in May of 2022, marketing budgets have climbed to 9.5% of total revenue, versus 6.4% in 2021. With higher marketing spend, there is more demand for research company contracts and increased bandwidth for internal research teams. Great all around! More jobs + small candidate pool = increased demand and higher compensation offers to fight for the best talent.
Movement
In 2022 we witnessed high levels of movement. One of the few things motivating passive candidates to transition to new positions was money. A substantial increase in compensation had candidates moving from one place to the next, even if they were only with their current company for a short time. This had companies overpaying for talent and candidates negotiating at “unrealistic” pay rates.
Cheers to a year of success! Look for our January 3, 2023 report on 2022 candidate and company trends that will carry over into 2023. Please reach out to Smith Hanley Associates for all of your hiring needs. We’d love to hear from you.
The Market Research & Consumer Insights Team
Lindsey Bartlett, Practice Lead
lbartlett@smithhanley.com, 312.273-9897
Wilberschied, Executive Recruiter
dwilberschied@smithhanley.com, 773.457-1222
Pierson Wofford, Executive Recruiter
pwofford@smithhanley.com, 217.414-7878
