Unit 9, Professional Engineers
2013 Salary Survey
Published: May 16, 2013
California Department of Human Resources
Labor Relations Division
1515 S Street, North Building, Suite 400
Sacramento, California 95811 
Table of Contents
Overview
Methodology
Memorandum of Understanding Survey Requirement
State of California’s Benchmark Job Classifications
Surveyed Organizations and Job Classifications
Survey Lag Computation
Lag Calculation Variations
Survey Results
Considerations
Attachment 1- Salary Survey Text from Unit 9 Memorandum Of Understanding
Attachment 2- List of Surveyed Organizations and Classifications for 2013 Unit 9 Salary Survey
Attachment 3- Computation of Weighted Average Salary and Lag for 2013 Unit 9 Salary Survey

Overview
This salary survey is prepared by the Department of Human Resources (CalHR) pursuant to AB 977 (Chapter 616/2003) and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the State of California (State) and the Professional Engineers in California Government (PECG) covering Bargaining Unit 9 Professional Engineers.
Pursuant to AB 977, CalHR is submitting a completed Unit 9 salary survey to the Legislature for consideration.  Unit 9 employees are not automatically entitled to salary increases to compensate for any salary disparity (“lag”) between Unit 9 salaries and other negotiated benchmark comparisons.
Methodology
Memorandum of Understanding Survey Requirement
This salary survey was initiated and completed based on the requirements of the MOU that was effective July 2, 2003 through July 2, 2008, as a new agreement had not yet been reached.  Article 3.1 of this contract contained the survey requirements and components to the survey whereby over time the parties had agreed to a specific methodology.  Attachment 1 displays MOU Article 3.1.  By the terms of the MOU, the surveyed agencies and classifications may only be changed upon agreement between CalHR and PECG.
MOU, Article 3.1, requires CalHR to
•	annually survey the same public agencies and University of California job classifications as were used in the December 2002 survey
•	calculate the salary lead or lag based on the weighted average salaries of employees in the surveyed organizations’ classifications
A new MOU has since been enacted and became effective April 1, 2011 through July 1, 2013, but had no impact on this salary survey. This new MOU states that by mutual agreement CalHR and PECG can meet to discuss benchmarks and methodologies beginning with the 2013 survey and the calculation of the salary lead or lag shall be based on weighted average salaries of employees in the classifications of specific surveyed agencies as per the list contained in the new MOU.
State of California’s Benchmark Job Classifications
For this survey, the required three benchmark job classifications for the State are
•	Entry Level — Transportation Engineer (Civil) Range B
•	Journey Level — Transportation Engineer (Civil) Range D
•	First Level Supervisor — Senior Transportation Engineer, Caltrans 
Surveyed Organizations and Job Classifications
Attachment 2 displays the surveyed organizations, their surveyed job classifications, and the minimum and maximum salaries of those job classifications.
Survey Lag Computation
There are two parts to the survey lag computation. The first part of the lag computation weights the maximum salary of each surveyed organization (not including the State) by the total number of engineers in the comparable class in the surveyed organizations. This is done separately for the entry-level, journey-level and first-supervisory level categories. The result is three weighted average maximum salaries for the surveyed organizations; one for entry level, one for journey level, and one for first-supervisory level.
The second part of the lag computation compares the weighted average salary for the surveyed organizations with maximum salary of the State benchmark engineer class. The percentage difference is the salary lag. A separate lag is computed for entry, journey, and first-supervisory levels.
The following illustrates the simplified lag computation for entry-level using two fictitious survey organizations and fictitious data.
Simplified Illustration of Salary Lag Computation
Surveyed  Organization	Entry Level Maximum Salary A	No. of Engineers in Survey Class B	Product = A x B	
Organization A	$5,346	132	$705,672	
Organization B	$6,268	26	$162,968	
Total	N/A	158	$826,640	
•	Weighted Average Salary: $5,232 1
•	State of California Salary: $5,000
•	State Salary Lag: $232
•	State Salary Lag Percent: 4.6%2
1 Calculation is $826,640/158
2 Calculation is $5,232 less 5,000 divided by $5,000, rounded to one decimal
Lag Calculation Variations
There were two unique variations affecting the lag computation. The first item is that some of the surveyed organizations used two classifications for one level (such as entry level).  Attachment 2 illustrates
•	Six surveyed organizations used two classifications for the entry level
•	One surveyed organization used two classifications for the journey level
For those organizations using two classifications for a level (such as entry level), CalHR combined the incumbent counts for the two classifications. CalHR then weighted the maximum salary of the higher-salaried class by the combined incumbent count.
The second variation affecting the lag computation is the additional pay that some survey organizations provide their engineers for possessing State certification as a registered engineer.
The City of San Diego pays employees in the Journey and First-Supervisory levels 15% additional for State certification as a Registered Civil Engineer. To compute the survey’s salary lag, CalHR added the additional pay to maximum salary, then weighted by an incumbent count containing only State-certified registered engineers.
The Professional Engineers in California Government and CalHR agreed on the application of the two variations.
Survey Results
Salary Lags for Entry, Journey, and First-Supervisory Levels
Based on the survey data, the lags are displayed in the following table for the state’s three surveyed benchmark job classifications.  The lags are as follow:
Table - Display of Survey’s Lags
Level of Work	Entry Level	Journey Level	First Level Supervisor	
State Benchmark Classification	Transportation Engineer (Civil) Range B	Transportation Engineer (Civil) Range D	Senior Transportation Engineer, Caltrans	
Lag for State	2.2%	1.4%	2.1%	
Attachment 3 provides the detail on the lag computations.
These three lag percentages have not resulted in salary increases.  The rank and file civil service job classifications of Bargaining Unit 9 are not automatically entitled to salary increases to compensate for any salary disparity (“lag”) between Bargaining Unit 9 salaries and other negotiated benchmark comparisons.  The Legislature shall determine whether or not those salary lags should result in salary increases for Unit 9 Employees.

Considerations
Pursuant to AB 977 and the MOU, CalHR is required to submit this survey annually to the Legislature for consideration.  However, this survey does not reflect the actual cost of increasing Unit 9 salaries as the survey does not take into consideration the total impact that such increases would have on the related supervisory and managerial classifications. Significant costs should be assumed should the State extend the salary disparity “lag” to the supervisory and managerial classifications. 
Attachment 1- Salary Survey Text from Unit 9 Memorandum Of Understanding
ARTICLE 3 - SALARIES AND COMPENSATION
3.1 Salary Parity for Unit 9
All employees in classifications in Unit 9 shall receive salaries no less than salaries received by their counterparts in California’s larger local agencies and the University of California. The determination of those salaries shall be based on DPA’s survey of Professional Engineer Benchmarks, utilizing the California public agencies and the University of California included in the department’s survey dated December 2002, updated annually, and the local agency classifications and salary range matches contained therein. The salary survey for those classifications and agencies shall be updated no less than once per year. The agencies and classifications included in the survey shall only be changed upon agreement between DPA and PECG.
The calculation of the salary lead or lag for Unit 9 employees shall be based on weighted average salaries of employees in the classifications in those surveyed agencies.
All steps in each salary range shall be increased by the same percentage.  The salary for intermediate classifications in ranges between the Entry and Supervisory levels shall be based on prorating or interpolating the salaries.
All salary increases shall be rounded to the nearest dollar. In no event shall salaries be reduced as a result of this provision. DPA and PECG may negotiate salaries above the minimum level on any general, regional, specialty, classification, department, or other basis they choose to agree upon.
Salaries for Unit 9 employees shall be increased as appropriate to correspond to the timing of the salaries received by local agency employees included in the survey, with adjustments in the Unit 9 salaries occurring no less than once every 12 months, as follows:
Effective July 1, 2005, the salary increase for all Unit 9 employees shall be no less than 25% of the lag calculated from the December 2004 survey or later.
Effective July 1, 2006, the salary increase for all Unit 9 employees shall be no less than 50% of the lag calculated from the survey dated December 2005 or later.
Effective July 1, 2007, the salary increase for all Unit 9 employees shall be no less than 75% of the lag calculated from the survey dated December 2006 or later.
Effective July 1, 2008, and thereafter, the salaries for all Unit 9 employees shall be such that any lag calculated from the December 2007 or later DPA survey shall be entirely eliminated.
Attachment 2- List of Surveyed Organizations and Classifications for 2013 Unit 9 Salary Survey
Organization	Entry Level	Min	Max	Journey Level	Min	Max	First Supervisory Level	Min	Max	
STATE OF CALIFORNIA	Transportation Engineer A/B	$4,608	$6,409	Transportation Engineer D	$6,897	$8,379	Sr. Transportation Engineer	$8,122	$9,870	
Alameda County	Junior Engineer	$5,606	$6,477	Associate Civil Engineer	$7,656	$9,303	Supervising Civil Engineer	$8,743	$10,631	
Contra Costa County	Engineer - Entry	$5,077	$6,034	Engineer - Project	$6,983	$8,098	Associate Civil Engineer	$6,176	$8,104	
Fresno County	Engineer II	$4,810	$6,140	Senior Engineer	$6,164	$7,492	Supervising Engineer	$6,779	$8,237	
Los Angeles County	C.E Assistant Sr. C.E. Assistant	$5014   $5014	$5900 $6229	Associate Civil Engineer
Civil Engineer	$6641   $7402	$8250  $9196	Senior Civil Engineer	$8,250	$10,249	
Orange County	Junior Civil Engineer	$5,432	$6,217	Civil Engineer	$7,504	$8,597	Senior Civil Engineer	$8,597	$9,857	
Riverside County	Junior Engineer/Assistant Engineer	$4308   $4817	$6107  $6830	Associate Civil Engineer	$5,648	$8,009	Senior Civil Engineer	$6,452	$9,151	
Sacramento County	Asst. Civil Engineer Level 1/Asst. Civil Eng. Level 2	$5,585	$7,127	Associate Civil Engineer	$7,120	$8,657	Senior Civil Engineer	$8,488	$9,358	
San Bernardino County	A/E Project Manager I	$4,767	$6,088	A/E Project Manager II	$5,521	$7,053	A/E Project Manager III	$6,087	$7,783	
San Diego County	Assistant Engineer	$4,926	$6,289	Civil Engineer	$6,219	$7,559	Senior Civil Engineer	$7,195	$8,746	
Santa Clara County	Assistant Civil Engineer	$6,099	$7,416	Associate Civil Engineer	$7,273	$8,841	Senior Civil Engineer	$8,518	$10,380	
SF City/County	Junior Engineer/Assistant Engineer	$5720   $6463	$6951 $7856	Associate Engineer	$7,518	$9,139	Senior Engineer	$10,075	$12,246	
City of Fresno	Engineer I	$4,036	$4,872	Professional Engineer	$5,819	$7,052	Supervising Professional Engineer	$6,606	$8,011	
City of Los Angeles	Civil Engineer Associate I	$5,632	$6,997	Civil Engineer	$7,357	$9,140	Senior Civil Engineer	$8,655	$10,751	
City of Oakland	Assistant Engineer, Level 1	$5,106	$6,267	Civil Engineer	$6,895	$8,465	Civil Engineer, Supervisor	$8,475	$10,406	
City of Riverside	Assistant Engineer	$5,322	$6,470	Associate Engineer	$6,148	$8,239	Principal Engineer	$8,057	$11,901	
City of Sacramento	Junior Engineer/Assistant Civil Engineer	$4164 $5079	$5859   $7146	Associate Civil Engineer	$6,164	$8,674	Supervising Engineer	$7,484	$11,226	
City of San Diego	Junior Engineer/Assistant Engineer	$4181   $4839	$5063   $5830	Associate Engineer	$6,407	$7,737	Senior Civil Engineer	$7,384	$8,929	
City of San Jose	Engineer I	$5,191	$6,567	Associate Engineer	$6,307	$7,987	Senior Engineer	$7,672	$9,707	
University of California, Berkeley	Engineer, Assistant	N/A	N/A	Engineer, Associate	N/A	N/A	Engineer, Senior	N/A	N/A	
University of California, Davis	Engineer, Assistant	$4,024	$7,243	Engineer, Associate	$4,866	$8,758	Engineer, Senior	$5,356	$9,641	
University of California, Irvine	Engineer, Assistant	$3,751	$6,189	Engineer, Associate	$4,542	$7,494	Engineer, Senior	$5,001	$8,252	
University of California, Los Angeles	Engineer, Assistant	$3,806	$7,376	Engineer, Associate	$4,605	$8,903	Engineer, Senior	$5,069	$9,810	
University of California, Merced	Engineer, Assistant	N/A	N/A	Engineer, Associate	N/A	N/A	Engineer, Senior	$4,709	$8,817	
University of California, Riverside	Engineer, Assistant	$3,679	$7,543	Engineer, Associate	$4,451	$9,128	Engineer, Senior	$4,899	$10,270	
University of California, San Diego	Engineer, Assistant	$3,509	$6,270	Engineer, Associate	$4,227	$7,896	Engineer, Senior	$5,161	$10,048	
University of California, Santa Cruz	Engineer, Assistant	$3,917	$7,050	Engineer, Associate	$4,792	$8,625	Engineer, Senior	$5,333	$9,600	
University of California, Santa Barbara	Engineer, Assistant	$3,864	$6,965	Engineer, Associate	$4,674	$8,407	Engineer, Senior	$5,145	$9,263	
University of California, San Francisco	Engineer, Assistant	$4,600	$8,042	Engineer, Associate	$5,592	$9,750	Engineer, Senior	$6,133	$10,717	

Attachment 3- Computation of Weighted Average Salary and Lag for 2013 Unit 9 Salary Survey
May 16, 2013
Jurisdiction	Entry Level Salary Maximum	Entry Level # of Inc.	Entry Level Weighted Avg. Max	Journey Level Salary Maximum	Journey Level # of Inc.	Journey Level Weighted Avg. Max	First Level Supervisor Salary Maximum	First Level Sup. # of Inc.	First Level Sup. Weighted Avg. Max	
Alameda County	6,477	2	12,954	9,303	11	102,331	10,631	4	42,524	
Contra Costa County	6,034	0	0	8,098	5	40,490	8,104	8	64,832	
Fresno County	6,140	3	18,420	7,492	8	59,936	8,237	2	16,474	
Los Angeles County	6,229	186	1,158,594	9,196	371	3,411,716	10,249	95	973,655	
Orange County	6,217	1	6,217	8,597	32	275,104	9,857	25	246,425	
Riverside County	6,830	24	163,920	8,009	26	208,234	9,151	15	137,265	
Sacramento County	7,127	86	612,922	8,657	94	813,758	9,358	51	477,258	
San Bernardino County	6,088	1	6,088	7,053	2	14,106	7,783	2	15,566	
San Diego County	6,289	16	100,624	7,559	40	302,360	8,746	20	174,920	
Santa Clara County	7,416	9	66,744	8,841	19	167,979	10,380	6	62,280	
SF City/County	7,856	202	1,586,912	9,139	243	2,220,777	12,246	117	1,432,782	
City of Fresno	4,872	1	4,872	7,052	14	98,728	8,011	3	24,033	
City of Los Angeles	6,997	5	34,985	9,140	61	557,540	10,751	28	301,028	
City of Oakland	6,267	0	0	8,465	22	186,230	10,406	1	10,406	
City of Riverside	6,470	3	19,410	8,239	3	24,717	11,901	10	119,010	
City of Sacramento	7,146	10	71,460	8,674	21	182,154	11,226	11	123,486	
City of San Diego	5,830	190	1,107,700	7,737	87	673,119	8,929	43	383,947	
City of San Jose	6,567	0	0	7,987	89	710,843	9,707	26	252,382	
UC - Berkeley	N/A	N/A	0	N/A	N/A	0	N/A	N/A	0	
UC - Davis	7,243	0	0	8,758	3	26,274	9,641	2	19,282	
UC - Irvine	6,189	1	6,189	7,494	1	7,494	8,252	0	0	
UC - Los Angeles	7,376	14	103,264	8,903	3	26,709	9,810	3	29,430	
UC - Merced	N/A	N/A	0	N/A	0	0	8,817	0	0	
UC - Riverside	7,543	0	0	9,128	0	0	10,270	1	10,270	
UC - San Diego	6,270	2	12,540	7,896	4	31,585	10,048	1	10,048	
UC - Santa Cruz	7,050	6	42,300	8,625	1	8,625	9,600	6	57,600	
UC - Santa Barbara	6,965	1	6,965	8,407	3	25,221	9,263	1	9,263	
UC - San Francisco	8,042	3	24,126	9,750	0	0	10,717	1	10,717	
Total	N/A	766	5,167,206	N/A	1163	10,176,030	N/A	482	5,004,883	
Calculation of weighted maximum salaries for entry, journey and supervisory levels is the salary maximum multiplied by the number of incumbents. 
Results	Entry Level	Journey Level	First Level Supervisor	
Jurisdiction Weighted Average Salary	6,746	8,750	10,384	
State of California Salary	6,601	8,630	10,166	
State Lag (Dollar Amount)	145	120	218	
State Lag (Percentage)	2.2%	1.4%	2.1%