The subset of the research was widened this year to make the results present the fields of sales and marketing more comprehensively. Therefore, for the first time, the members of MarkkinointiKollektiivi and MARK participated in the inquiry in addition to the members of MMA. Since in the previous years the research has been conducted only with members of MMA, the comparison of data between different years can only be done with the answers from MMA members.
The research indicated that despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the incomes of sales and marketing professionals have remained on a relatively high level. The median income of the participants was €5000 per month in 2020. However, high income is targeted to certain industries. The research also indicated that women’s salaries are still significantly lower than men’s. This tendency is visible even in the incomes of young professionals.
A sales and marketing professional is worth every penny
The important work of sales and marketing professionals guarantees the increasing the growth of business. There is a lot of demand for these skills, especially during the pandemic, and the importance of the work can be seen in the wages.
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused some major changes in the field: lay-offs and terminations of employment hit hard on the sales and marketing field last year. However, investing on sales and marketing enables the companies to continue operating and developing.
“We, the professionals of sales and marketing, have a job with high responsibility: we create jobs and do our part in keeping the wheels of society turning by helping the companies succeed. The appreciation of sales work needs to be seen in the income,” says the president of MMA Marko Hovinmäki.
Higher education cannot be seen in women’s wages
Women in the field of sales and marketing are usually more highly educated than men. Their income is still remarkably lower than that of men’s. This tendency is visible even in the incomes of young professionals (under 35 years old). One of the reasons for this might be that women usually work in the marketing field, which has a lower income rate than the sales field.
“If the income is on a different level from the start, then despite the raises on basic income the difference between the incomes unfortunately won’t narrow very often. While the role of marketing as a growth factor is not yet understood well enough, the incomes of the female dominated marketing field still drag behind the male dominated sales field. In addition to MMA working hard to get the marketing professionals the appreciation they deserve, our task is to work our fingers to the bone to improve the income equality between genders,” underlines Hovinmäki.
Income polarisation between industries deepens
The income development of MMA members in different industries (industrial, services, wholesale, and retail) shows the clear winners and losers – and the gap is getting wider. In the industrial and wholesale industries the incomes above median have increased from last year. In the other end, the incomes below median have decreased in retail and service industries.
“Those of our members who have previously been on a higher income level have managed to raise their incomes even further despite Covid-19. Meanwhile those who already were in the lower income level get even less income now,” states Hovinmäki.
Remarkable differences between industries can also be seen when comparing the median income of sales and marketing professionals in different industries. For example, the average income of employees in the chemical and medical industries among all the participants was €5900 per month last year while the average income of employees in education services and tourism and catering industries was €3400 per month.
MMA’s income survey 2020
MMA’s income survey was carried out by Taloustutkimus Oy using an electric questionnaire in 11.-26.1.2021. 1901 persons filled the questionnaire and of those 1597 were reached through MMA membership register and 293 through MarkkinointiKollektiivi and MARK. For every answer, two euros were donated to Hope ry. The report of the research is published in Finnish on mma.fi.