ASCP 2023 Wage Survey Report will help Bolster Workforce Recruitment and Retention

Results of the ASCP 2023 Wage Survey show a significant increase in salaries of laboratory professionals since the prior survey conducted in 2021. However, the impact of the salary increase is far lower when adjusted for the high inflation rate experienced over the past few years.

Another key takeaway from the survey responses is that the high levels of burnout among laboratory staff have decreased substantially from the high rates of burnout experienced by staff during the COVID-19 pandemic a few years ago. When it comes to burnout, there is a 16.4-percent decrease in the number of Wage Survey respondents who said they are presently experiencing burnout, when compared to the 2021 survey results.

“We know that levels of burnout were extremely high during the pandemic. To me, this new information says that burnout levels have returned to pre-pandemic levels,” says Edna Garcia, MPH, ASCP senior director of scientific engagement and research.

Conducted every two years, the ASCP Wage Survey serves as the primary source for industry, labor, government, and academic institutions of current wage data for U.S.-based laboratory scientists. More than 9,600 medical laboratory professionals responded to the survey, which was conducted by ASCP in collaboration with the ASCP Institute of Science, Technology and Policy in Washington, D.C., and the ASCP Board of Certification. Survey results were published October 4, 2024, in the American Journal of Clinical Pathology (AJCP) online.

The ASCP Wage Survey Report highlights pay levels broken down by title, geography, certification and other variables using results of an online survey that requested data from laboratory managers, directors, supervisors, and staff across the United States.

“The data from the 2023 Wage Survey has so many purposes,” says Ms. Garcia. “It will be used by government entities as they project laboratory workforce staffing needs. The survey results also will be shared to the Medical and Public Health Laboratory Workforce Coalition, a partnership of 28 partner organizations which will inform their own laboratory workforce initiatives.

“The data is also used by laboratory professionals to advocate for salary increases within their own health organizations, and it will help new graduates to have a starting point when negotiating a fair salary,” she adds. “Lastly, when we are approached by clinical employers, we can also supply them data that can help them create positions with more fair compensation packages.”

“What the 2023 survey results indicate is that everyone can feel good that their salaries have gone up significantly over the past few years,” Ms. Garcia says, adding, “These gains would have been even better if we had not experienced the inflation rates that we did.”

Kerwin Kolheffer, MS, PA(ASCP)^CM, director of the pathologists’ assistant program at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA, and a member of the ASCP Council of Laboratory Professionals, served as a reviewer for the Wage Survey Report.

“Compensation for pathologists’ assistants has gone up over the last several years, but it has not kept up with inflation,” he says. “I have also seen an increase in mobility for these positions. I see pathologists’ assistants leaving jobs and accepting positions elsewhere for better pay. There is also a very strong demand for pathologists’ assistant trainees. Most students have jobs lined up before graduation.” 

Survey results call for continued efforts in promoting visibility of the profession and greater representation through advocacy. Efforts to support the workforce have multiplied since the pandemic and have remained a focus of the laboratory community. However, continued support and advocacy are needed to increase the promotion and value of laboratory careers for laboratory professionals and patients alike.

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