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Compensation, benefits and job analysis specialists fill a variety of crucial roles within many large companies. They evaluate job candidates against positions to determine a suitable salary range, and they also ensure that new hires and existing employees stay in compliance with state and federal labor laws. Compensation benefits and job analysis specialists also provide counsel to their managers and employees about employment regulations, the details of company benefit plans and company-wide compensation practices.

Additionally, employees in this field help develop evaluational standards and career path reports that are used as a basis for promoting valuable employees into higher positions. As such, they have extensive experience with human resources and recruitment, compensation and benefits procedures, and labor relations and state and federal employment requirements.

Most often, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, bls.gov, 2012) reports, employees in these positions blend a rich background of work experience and education. Most people working in this field have earned a bachelor's degree, and managerial candidates often have earned master's degrees by following the appropriate degree path for compensation, benefits and job analysis specialist at schools or through online training.

Compensation, benefits and job analysis specialist salary 2011

According to the BLS, there were 94,710 people working in this field in 2011. The BLS national annual salary for compensation benefits and job analysis specialist in 2011 was $57,960 median. The lowest 10 percent of specialists in this field earned up to $36,830, and the top 10 percent of specialists in this field took home up to $91,220 per year, the BLS notes.

The highest mean salaries went to workers employed by the federal government, but jobs there are few. Private enterprise companies that offered the best salary ranges include natural gas distribution businesses, aerospace suppliers and manufacturing firms, and software publishing companies. Twelve percent of compensation, benefits and job analysis specialists are employed in management positions, and another large segment of workers in this field are employed by agencies, brokerages or insurance-related firms, the BLS reports.

States with large populations such as California, New York and Texas employ the highest number of workers in this field, but 2011 salaries were highest in the following areas:

District of Columbia: $72,020 mean annual

Massachusetts: $68,440 mean annual

Washington: $67,960 mean annual

Career outlook for compensation benefits and job analysis specialists

Growth is very modest in this field, the BLS notes, because many firms chose to contract out these positions to HR consulting firms as a way to control costs and gain the valuable expertise these firms offer. Also, because employee benefits packages often are highly complicated, more firms are contracting out administration of these plans to specialty firms.