2023 ASCP Wage Survey Highlights Wage Growth, Importance of Visibility

The recently published 2023 ASCP wage survey report reveals an upward trend in the salaries for most laboratory professionals. Some of these improvements, however, are offset by inflation. For example, while salaries for staff-level professionals show significant increases before adjusting for inflation, only staff-level pathologists’ assistants, technologists in molecular biology and cytogenetics, and medical laboratory technicians show wage growth after adjusting for inflation.

The wages of laboratory professionals as they accumulate more years of experience in the field show slight increases, with histotechnologists, histotechnicians and medical laboratory technicians showing more consistent pay increases with increased experience. Results also show COVID-19 associated burnout subsiding, with 16.4 percent fewer respondents are presently reporting they are experiencing burnout, compared to the 2021 ASCP wage survey.

In addition to collecting data on workforce parameters, the report also identifies visibility as a key factor in advancing the profession and provides examples of how the laboratory community is responding to laboratory workforce shortages. The newly established Medical and Public Health Laboratory Workforce (MPHLW) Coalition—a collaboration of more than 28 national organizations committed to building a robust and diverse medical laboratory workforce—and the ASCP’s Workforce Steering Committee are working tirelessly to promote visibility for the laboratory medicine and pathology professions. 

Other resources cited by the report include ASCP’s Grow Your Own Initiative, which showcases organizations that are growing their own pipeline of laboratory professionals through partnerships, and the ASCP Foundation’s Dr. Alvin Ring Empowerment Scholarship for Laboratory Professionals, which aims to foster diversity and inclusivity through scholarships to those pursuing higher education to become a medical laboratory professional.

To read the full report, click here.