JCC Professionals
Make Headway In Compensation, With Pay For Entry-Level Workers
Increasing The Most
NEW YORK, NY, November 22, 2006 – Average
annual pay increases in the past three years for professionals
working at Jewish Community Centers throughout the United
States exceeded the rate of inflation, suggesting that the
field has made strides in setting compensation to attract
and retain qualified staff. “That’s a good sign,
given our historical struggle to provide adequate pay and
pay raises,” noted Alan P. Solow, chairman of JCC Association,
the umbrella agency for the continental JCC Movement, which
sponsored the survey. The last salary survey was completed
in 2003.
The Florence G. Heller-JCC Association Research Center, led
by Director Prof. Steven M. Cohen, and Assistant Director
Lauren Hradecky, conducted the survey. They examined compensation
for 39 full-time professional job categories, ranging from
the top-ranked executive directors to facilities managers
and security directors. Chief financial officers at 77 JCCs
in the United States completed the survey this past spring
and summer, reporting on a total of 1,973 professionals who
staff their JCCs. Gender, age, education, number of years
working in JCCs, and size of JCCs were also taken into account.
The survey, said Solow, contained a wealth of information,
including “many facts of which we can be proud and others
that present challenges to the movement.”
Among the most positive developments is a 42 percent jump
in salary over three years for management information services
directors. This, according to Cohen, a leading sociologist
and research professor of Jewish Social Policy at Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion, reflects “recognition
of the competitive climate that exists for hi-tech talent.”
Not surprisingly, executive directors are the highest paid.
However, the gaps between higher paid and lower paid professionals
narrowed between 2003 and 2006. Executives saw their compensation
increase by 11 percent, while entry-level workers saw their
salaries rise by 14 percent.
Although one quarter of JCC executives are women, gender-based
variation remains an area of concern, with little gain seen
in the past three years. “Women, particularly those
in jobs at the supervisory level or higher, are still paid
less than men for comparable work and with comparable skills,”
said Cohen.
The problem persists, he said, not just at JCCs, but across
the board – in other nonprofit agencies as well as in
the private sector. Solow expressed concern. “The field
and our volunteer leadership have to take seriously the opportunity
to attract qualified women professionals,” he said.
“If we don’t successfully meet this challenge,
we’ll be missing out on the chance to improve staff
and therefore, the services we deliver.”
There are some indications that changes are beginning to occur.
At the sub-executive level, (assistance executive director,
chief financial officer, site director), the difference between
pay for men and women has narrowed from 12 percent to 6 percent
in the past three years. Only a 5 percent difference was recorded
for male and female employees in entry level positions and
those in lower levels of management.
Despite the narrowing of the pay gap between men and women
in entry-level professional jobs, another critical challenge
is retaining young people of both sexes. “We know that
job satisfaction among those entering the field is very high,
because they report being happy,” said JCC Association
President Allan Finkelstein. “What’s troubling
is that when you ask them if they will still be working there
in five years, they say they don’t know, because they
are unsure if they will be able to support families on what
they earn. This is a very important issue for the field to
address.”
###
JCC Association
is the leadership network of, and central agency for the Jewish
Community Center Movement, which is comprised of 350 JCC,
YM-YWHA and camp sites in the U. S. and Canada. JCC Association
offers a wide range of services and resources to strengthen
the capacity of its affiliates to provide educational, cultural,
social, Jewish identity-building, and recreational programs
to enhance the lives of North American Jews of all ages and
backgrounds. Additionally, the movement fosters and strengthens
connections between North American Jews and Israel as well
as with world Jewry. JCC Association is also the U.S. government
accredited agency for serving the religious and social needs
of Jewish military personnel, their families, and patients
in VA hospitals through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.
Miriam
Rinn
Communications Manager
JCC Association
15 E. 26 St., NY, NY 10010
212-786-5092
fax: 212-481-4174
send an e-mail
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