New UC Salary Data: 2010 was a Good Year for Higher Earners

New UC salary data is now available at Jeffrey Bergamini’s compensation database, and it reveals that in 2010, there were 4,237 UC employees making more than $200,000 for a total gross pay of $1.26 billion and a base pay of $744 million. This means that for the over 200k club, more than 40% of their pay came from extra pay; moreover, the over $200,000 earners raked in 12% of the gross pay for the whole system ($9.3 billion), while they represented under 3% of the regular employees and less than 1% of the total number of employees (including student workers).

If we compare 2010 to 2008 and 2006, we find that in 2006, there were 2,464 employees making over $200K with a total gross pay of $680 million, while in 2008, there were 3,643 high earners with a total gross salary of $1 billion. In other words, during the UC’s “fiscal crisis,” we have seen a continual increase of employees entering into the over-200K club.

To further investigate who makes up this class of high earners, we can break down these employees into six major categories: administrators, medical faculty, athletic coaches, business school professors, academic professors (excluding business and law professors), and law professors. These six categories accounted for over 95% of the revenue of the over $200,000 club in 2010.

Starting with the medical faculty, we find that in 2010, there were 2,772 medical faculty making over $200,000 for a total gross pay of $867.4 million. This means that in the period of 2008 to 2010, the medical faculty in the over 200k range increased their numbers by 476, while their total gross pay went up $187.4 million. It is clear that the medical centers are an economic powerhouse that drive inequality in the UC system.

The second biggest group in the over-200k club is the administrators. In 2010, we find 351 bureaucrats making a total of $102 million, while in 2008, there were 397 administrators in the over 200k club making a total of $109 million. In other words, due to the downsizing of the Office of the President, there are now fewer administrators in the over-$200,000 club, but their average pay is higher.

The next biggest group of high earners are the academic professors outside of law, medicine, and business. In 2010, there were 397 professors making over $200,000 for a collective gross pay of $93 million. If we compare these figures to 20008, we discover that this group has been reduced by 18 people, and their collective pay has gone down by $3.6 million.

In the case of the business school faculty, in 2008, there were 372 faculty making more than $200,000 for a collective gross pay of $93 million, while in 2010, 439 high-earning professors had a collective gross pay of $115 million. This statistics show that while the number of general campus, high-earning professors has been decreased, the medical and business professors making over $200,000 has continued to increase.

In the case of law professors, we find that in 2008, there were 85 making over $200,000 for a collective pay of $21 million, and in 2010, this same group consisted of 96 professors making a collective gross pay of $25 million. So we once again, we see a trend of increasing the number of high-earning professors in the professional schools, while the nonprofessional school professors are reduced.

The final group is the athletic coaches; in 2008, there were 24 coaches making over $2000,000 for a collective payout of $12.8 million, and in 2010, this same group has 35 employees at a collective gross pay of $16 million. In other words, the athletic departments continue to do well in bad times.

These statistics show that as the university continues to rely increasingly on undergraduate tuition to fund the system, more of the pay is going to people working outside of undergraduate education. Moreover, since the UC is the third biggest employer in California, we can see how the wage disparities in the UC system contribute to the growing wage inequality in the state.