been all too apparent. The comparatively low salaries of NIH professionals combined with inadequate numbers of personnel to carry out the NIH missions and objectives threatens to seriously compromise the future efficiency and effectiveness of federally conducted and supported biomedical research programs. The association urges this subcommittee to address the need for more fulltime positions at the NIH, and the necessity of providing more competitive salaries for NIH employees. The association realizes that it is beyond the purview of this subcommittee to designate specific salaries for Federal employees. However, recognition by this subcommittee of the inadequacies of the present salary structure at the NIH may encourage the appropriate legislative committees of the Congress to deal with this very serious and destructive situation. Attached to this statement is a brief comparison of salaries of medical school faculty to those of NIH career bioscientists. The association believes that this comparison speaks for itself. The association recommends that the employment ceiling for the NIH be raised to 11,500 positions in fiscal 1975, and that these positions be distributed as follows: The association also requests that this subcommittee make reference in its report to the inadequacy of the current salary structure at the NIH. BUDGET RESCISSIONS, DEFERRALS Before concluding this statement, the association wishes to emphasize its concern about past and future impoundments of health funds. Federal health programs have been a favorite target of the recent Administrations' unlawful impoundment activity. The association urges that the Congress reject future health rescission requests, and that it scrutinize all Administration deferrals of health funds. The Administration must not be allowed to accomplish by deferral what it has been forbidden to accomplish by rescission. Mr. Chairman, this concludes the association's statement. If you or other members of the subcommittee have any questions, I would be pleased to respond to them. ATTACHMENT COMPARISON OF SALARIES AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH WITH THOSE AT AMERICAN MEDICAL COLLEGES The U.S. Government has placed a ceiling on its salaries for career personnel at $36,000 per annum. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are subject to this ceiling. Because of the very select labor market from which it draws its personnel, the salaries offered by the NIH are becoming less competitive. A comparison of this $36,000 ceiling with current salaries of medical school faculty reveals the discrepancy which is attracting top Government scientists to the private sector. The 1974-75 Report on Medical School Salaries by the Association of American Medical Colleges contains data on faculty salaries for those individuals who receive their entire professional income from funds controlled by the medical school. This data reveals that compared with the $36,000 maximum at the NIH: Department chairmen in medicine are paid salaries that average $53,200; professors are paid salaries that average $42,200. Chairmen of anesthesiology, pathology, and radiology departments receive average salaries ranging from $51,600 to $60,200; professors in these departments average between $40,400 to $47,700. These figures are averages only, and many faculty earn in excess of these base numbers. Furthermore, the fringe benefits in non-Federal institutions are more attractive than in Federal service. Following are tables indicating average salaries in the clinical sciences departments of medical schools. Note on Computation of Percentile Statistics - The percentile statistics were calculated in the following manner: To obtain the value for the nth percentile statistic, reported salaries were counted in ascending order until the inclusion of a particular reported salary accounted for n percent or more of the reported salaries. No interpolation was performed. As a consequence of this procedure, cells with N=2 show identical values for the 20th and 50th percentile. Strict full-time medical school faculty are those who receive their entire professional income as a fixed annual amount from funds controlled by the medical school or its parent institution, who devote their full time to the programs of the medical school, and whose professional activities are under the direct auspices of the medical school. Source: Association of American Medical Colleges Report on Medical School Faculty Salaries 1974-1975; (March, 1975) Division of Operational Studies |