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Early results from DAD's salary survey

Aug. 25, 2009
Here's a quick look at the early results from the 2009 Dental Assisting Digest salary survey...
Last June, we posted our first DAD salary survey. During that survey, almost 800 DAD readers took the time to fill out the five-question online salary survey. Of the respondents, 81% made less than $22 per hour, and a staggering 97.7% made less than $30 per hour.Two months later, we wanted to find out a little more about those 97.7% who made less than $30 per hour, so we asked you to fill out another survey. This time, 502 of you responded with your honest opinions about your wages.What did we learn?The majority of dental assistants who answered fall into the $16 to $18 range, with 35.6% being there.

What was the best news from the survey?Only 3% of respondents made $10 or less.What was the worst news?There were 3% of respondents who made $10 or less.Flash forward one year later …The world is a completely different place thanks to the recent global economic turmoil. Has it made an impact on your salary?So far, the bulk of DAs (36.9% of respondents) falls between the $15 to $18 pay range. Only five people so far have said they make $10 or less an hour, while 13 DAs have said they make more than $30 per hour.Right now, the answers to our two questions about the timing of raises are virtually deadlocked. We asked, “When did you last receive a raise?” and 101 said more than a year ago, while 100 said less than a year ago.In answer to, “Do you think you receive raises from your employer(s) at fair intervals?” the answer “yes” is ahead by just six votes.I encourage you to participate in the salary survey by clicking on the link below and letting us know where you stand. The five-question survey will take less than two minutes to answer, and will provide us with a wealth of knowledge for upcoming editorial.Click here to take survey