It can be difficult to determine exactly how the economy is for workers at any given time. Unemployment levels continue to drop in the U.S.—landing at 3.7 percent as of August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)—but increasing automation and gig economy contract jobs still leave a great deal of room for uncertainty.

One factor to consider to examine the state of the economy for workers is income. Determining the mean or median income is a start, but a much deeper look is necessary. One number doesn’t reveal everything—many factors, occupations, institutional biases and more make up what a person’s actual income is. According to BLS, the median income for a full-time wage or salary worker for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2018 was $900. Assuming a 40-hour work week, this translates to an annual salary of about $46,800—a 5 percent increase over the prior year. (With seasonal adjustments like holidays and severe weather, median annual earnings drop to about $46,644 per year.)

The 5 percent 2017-18 salary increase is much higher than increases have been in recent years. Q4 of 2017 saw .09 percent growth compared to the same period in 2016. 2016’s figure was a 2.9 percent rise from 2015, and 2015’s figure was a 1.4 percent bump from 2014. These are all very broad numbers for a large population like the U.S. Education level, race, and gender also have a large impact on income. For example, according to BLS the lowest-earning 10 percent of workers with only a high school diploma earn, at most, $421 weekly—approximately $21,892 a year. Annual income for the lowest 10 percent of earners with a bachelor’s degree rises to $34,580.

It is difficult to generalize medtech workforce statistics since medical device industry employment runs the gamut from machine operators to CEOs. Biomedical engineers raked in an average of $95,090 according to BLS, while machine operators earned $51,250. Sales representatives for technical and scientific products made $91,380. A surprise to no one, chief executives earned $200,140 annually.

Medical Product Outsourcing’s annual salary survey aims to wade through these generalized figures to take the medtech economy’s pulse. This year’s survey included 131 respondents from all across the industry to be as close to truly representative as possible: 19.2 percent of respondents are in sales/marketing positions, 18.5 percent are in corporate management, 14.6 percent in research and development positions, 9.2 percent in business development, 7.7 are design engineers, 6.9 percent are quality assurance, 4.6 percent in production/ manufacturing, 3.8 percent in regulatory affairs, and 3.1 percent in purchasing. All completed high school, 95.4 percent have at least an associate’s degree, and 88.5 percent had earned at least a bachelor’s degree.

Although the unemployment rate has seen steady decline recently, the increase in wages has still been small. According to a Washington Post article published last November, 13.77 percent of workers employed 12 months saw no raise in the past year. The struggle of these workers with frozen wages is even more dire when accounting for inflation—the cost of living rises a little each year, meaning that same $70,000 salary is worth less this year than it was in 2018.

The number of workers who didn’t receive a wage bump over the past year rose in the medtech industry as well—this year touched 42.8 percent of the 131 medtech professionals surveyed by MPO, while in 2018 41.1 percent were not awarded a raise. Most who did see increase in their compensation were given a 3 percent raise (19.1 percent of survey respondents), just a hair over the 2.8 percent cost of living adjustment for 2019 determined by the Social Security Administration.

Medtech employees expect their stagnating wages to continue their course, as well. Though there was a slight drop in the number of professionals expecting their pay to remain flat—38.1 percent this year vs. 40.3 percent in 2018—the majority (77.9 percent) of medtech workers surveyed expect a salary increase of 4 percent or lower. The figures tally fairly evenly with last year: 2.3 percent expect a 1 percent raise (compared to 4 percent in 2018), 10.7 percent expect a 2 percent bump (vs. 12 percent last year), 21.4 percent anticipate a 3 percent hike (vs. 19.3 percent last year), and 5.3 percent hope for a 4 percent raise (vs. 3.7 percent last year).

Medical device professionals aren’t dreaming as large as years past, however—10.7 percent of respondents expect a 5 percent raise compared to last year’s 12.1 percent. A paltry 2.3 percent anticipate a 10 percent hike this year vs. 5.6 percent of medtech employees last year. However, 5.3 percent of medtech employees surveyed this year were awarded a more than 10 percent salary increase, with the highest reported bump of 15 percent. This number nearly matched last year’s >10 percent compensatory champions (5.6 percent). 3.8 percent expect a raise of more than 10 percent to come (a drop from last year’s 5.6 percent for those ambitious workers), with one respondent anticipating a whopping 24 percent wage bump this year.

Despite all these factors, inadequate compensation was only cited as the most frustrating aspect of the job for 11.4 percent of surveyed medtech professionals—down significantly from last year’s 16 percent of MPO survey respondents unhappy with their salary. It’s still on their minds, though—about half the survey respondents (51.1 percent) were satisfied their compensation reflects their level of responsibility, compared to last year’s nearly 60 percent. Most medtech professionals surveyed earned between $75,000 and $150,000 (41.2 percent vs. 2018’s 47.6 percent). The number of medtech workers receiving over $200,000 has remained flat from last year (8.4 percent vs. 8.1 percent in 2018), as has those earning under $15,000 (8.4 percent vs. 8.9 percent in 2018). A larger number are pulling in $15,000 to $20,000 (3.8 percent vs. 2.4 percent), and fewer are earning $150,000 to $200,000 (10.7 percent compared to last year’s 12.9 percent).

Beyond salary, medtech employees’ most coveted extra benefits were predictable: workers want liberal vacation time, a company-matched 401K plan, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive health insurance, flexible and/or remote work schedules, and travel opportunities in addition to adequate compensation.

Inadequate project funding mirrored compensation woes with 11.4 percent of MPO survey respondents citing it as their main complaint about the job. Internal politics and the regulatory process were the main subject of surveyed medtech professionals’ frustrations, capturing 24.4 percent and 20.6 percent of their gripes apiece. In fact, for some it isn’t the regulatory constraints themselves causing the problems, but rather that management expects product development time to remain unchanged despite increased regulatory challenges.

“Our biggest shareholders have no clue as to the regulatory environment that medical device manufacturers live in,” one respondent commented. “We don’t make coffee cups or sneakers. We make devices that either allow people to treat a particular disease state or enable [them] to return to a normal lifestyle.”

“Directors want products developed too fast and there is not enough time to test,” another chimed in.

Among the factors concerning medtech professionals about the medical device industry at present, regulatory complexity reigns supreme. Over 30 of the 131 surveyed medtech professionals cited some form of regulatory woes as their chief worry, whether with the FDA, EU, or elsewhere. The main source of anxiety here appears to be the squeeze on small- to mid-sized companies.

“Increased regulatory requirements and skyrocketing costs could run small/medium businesses out of business,” commented one respondent, with another claiming “[the] regulatory landscape favors big companies.”

“FDA expectations for companies [are] rising too far beyond what is financially supportable for a U.S. based company,” yet another respondent offered.

With a key deadline of the EU MDR to take effect in May 2020, European medtech firms and global firms with business in the EU are under a great deal of stress to transition quickly. One respondent is concerned with “the bottlenecks at various positions due to the transition to the MDR” and “device producers not making deadlines due to the transition and poor planning or resources.”

And of course, today’s dynamic political landscape is at top of mind for today’s medtech professionals, no matter which side of the political spectrum they inhabit. One respondent states that “Trump’s stand with China trading” is hurting medtech firms and suppliers doing business in that region of the world.

However, MPO survey respondents offered very little criticism of President Trump beyond this. It was rather a potential shift to the left that rubbed a few respondents the wrong way. One feared “the possibility of a democratic/socialist president in the White House” as a result of the 2020 election, worrying “I think that would hurt our business very much.” The “political aspects of Medicare for all”, “push for single-payer”, and “socialized healthcare leading to decreased compensation for vendors” also has some medtech professionals sweating next year’s election outcome.

It’s tough to say what will happen with the 2020 election given an unpredictable election cycle, but it will undoubtedly capture everyone’s attention—to a fault, perhaps—regardless of the outcome.

“With elections coming up, I foresee a decline in [the] amount of work until after the election is complete,” one respondent predicts.

We’ll see if next year’s survey agrees.