Changing Sectors – APM Salary Survey 2017

Results from the Salary and Market Trends Survey 2017, run in association with Wellingtone, have highlighted a profession growing across new sectors.

Drawing on three years of data, trends now show that while traditional sectors such as construction, aerospace and defence still form a large segment of our profession - accounting of a third of APM member respondents, a wider survey of UK workers (undertaken by YouGov) who conduct projects revealed that industries such as the arts, entertainment and heritage too have large numbers of project professionals. 

It also found that the project managers taking on these new opportunities available in diverse and interesting sectors are only just starting out in their careers and recently entered the profession.

One of the largest growing sectors from the survey is the arts/ entertainment and heritage sector, which has grown from just one per cent in 2015 to four per cent in 2017.

As well as the most common sectors, it was interesting to note that ten per cent of respondents entered an 'alternate sector' outside of the predefined areas, with multiple respondents reporting they work in sectors ranging from prisons to publishing and gaming to geoscience.

Another interesting finding is that since 2015 the health sector has only grown by two per cent, now accounting for six percent of respondents overall. What’s more, over double the number of females are taking on these roles compared to men in this sector.

As the Chartered body for the project profession, APM will soon announce its new strategy in order to meet the challenges of a complex and dynamic environment. APM believes the rapid rate of change we face calls for a more adaptive project management approach which is more inclusive and responsive to the needs of the society.