Average drop of 6% in US food industry salaries

According to a US magazine Food Processing edited by Dave Fusaro, the average pay in the US food and beverage industry declined by 6.3% over the past 12 months, to $93,537.

1611 people responded to Food Processing’s fourth annual Salary & Job Satisfaction Survey and the salary for every job category, except Plant Operations, showed a drop.

The largest salary decreases were experienced by purchasing personnel at around 25% followed by marketing and sales at 19%.

66% of responders rated their job satisfaction level as “very” or “somewhat satisfied”, an outcome that is 2% lower than the previous year’s level of job satisfaction.

Other survey results indicated a slight movement downward in age, with growth in the under-29 and 30-39-year-old groups. The average number of years at the current company moved down by about a month (to 11.7 years). Average hours worked per week went up by 23 minutes (to 47.5 hours) and the percentage of workers paid for overtime went up by three percentage points (to 13.4%).

The interval between pay increases is increasing as in this survey around 60% claimed annual increases, down from 65% a year ago.

Capital spending outlook is up 19.3%

With an improving economy and pent-up demand for plant improvements, capital spending in the US food and beverage industry this year is forecast to be up 19.3%.

A survey of the 32 public companies turned up a total of $13.644 billion in capital expenditures budgeted for 2010, up from the $11.439 billion the same companies actually spent in 2009.

A couple of huge companies accounted for a couple of huge increases - PepsiCo, for instance, raised its industry-leading 2009 outlay by 71% to $3.6 billion and Tyson Foods' budget is up 63%. Of the 32 top companies tracked, 24 were budgeting increased capital spending for 2010 and only 3% budgeting for decreased spending.