This is a very interesting question.

I have been following the discussion for some time and have been quite
surprised by the level of salaries mentioned in some of the advertisements
for jobs in US museums compared to salaries paid in New Zealand museums.
Although the US$ is worth twice the NZ$ on an exchange rate basis, it is
probably best to compare salaries on an equal basis since, for the sake of
the discussion, it is the buying power in each country that matters, i.e.
the assumption is that $1NZ buys in NZ the equivalent that $1US buys in the
US (it probably evens out across the board - some things are a lot cheaper
in NZ, some things are a lot more expensive).

A starting salary in a NZ museum for, say, an Assistant Curator or an
Assistant Educator (the sort of positions new graduates generally apply for)
would be in the vicinity of $22,000-$29,000. I certainly would not advertise
a position for less than $22,000 and would expect to pay about $24,000 for
such a position.

Educators, with teaching qualifications and not necessarily with any museum
experience, will get anything from $35,000-$55,000 depending on how many
years teaching experience.

A salary range for a Curator is more difficult to generalise about, but I
guess from $35,000-$55,000 at a regional/provincial size museum. A lot more
in a large metropolitan museum (and we only have a few of those!), probably
up to $100,000 I would guess.

Director's salaries vary quite markedly, as anywhere I imagine, but probably
from a low of about $45,000-$50,000 for a small local/provincial museum
(with from 2-5 staff), through $55,000-$100,000 for larger regional museums
(8-30 staff), and up to goodness knows what for the (very few) larger
institutions (and I am not ever likely to find out either!!)

Please note that these figures are off the top of my head and are not based
upon any hard data, just personal experience and anecdote. Hope they are of
some interest to the list and I look forward to your comments and comparable
figures from other countries.


Greg McManus
Director
Rotorua Museum
Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa
Government Gardens
Rotorua
NEW ZEALAND
Tel.  64+7+3494350
Fax.  64+7+3492819

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Wendy Ong
Sent: Monday, September 28, 1998 1:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Education jobs in places outside of US


Hi list
I am reading many mails about education and generally museum jobs being
lowly paid jobs, new graduates surviving on salaries which seem like
stipends, etc, etc...

I am curious to know, if this is a predominately US thing. ie. is it the
same for museums in Europe, Asia, New Zealand, Australia?

thanks!

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