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Labor Market Analysis

Practice of Surveying the Identified Market at UC Merced
The Compensation and Classification Office conducts and participates in a number of compensation surveys to obtain market data for the majority of occupations found at UC Merced. The surveys range from local to national markets and include specific jobs and major occupational groupings. Surveys include a number of well-defined (benchmark) jobs in the market that are matched to similar jobs in the University.

  • Labor market analysis is the process of:
  • Identifying the appropriate labor market for various types of positions.
  • Surveying the market to determine the salaries that are being paid for like positions.
  • Identifying market trends such as: ancillary pay, and merit and pay practices.
  • Establishing, adjusting, and/or recommending salary changes and/or structures for staff positions.
  • Consulting with management on their workforce needs.

Labor Market Analysis at UC Merced
Labor market analysis is a five part process to:

  • Identify the area within which employers are competing for labor.
  • Conduct or participate in market surveys within the labor market to determine the salaries being paid for specific positions.
  • Work with management to validate the market areas, market competitors, and job matches (benchmarks).
  • Identify market trends such as: ancillary pay, merit and pay practices.
  • Establish, adjust, and/or recommend salary structures that will allow the University to effectively compete for staff within specific classification levels or grades.

The results of market survey analysis, recruitment and retention indicators, availability of funds, and internal equity/alignment issues are all considered in establishing or adjusting salary ranges. These factors are of equal importance when used by managers in making individual pay adjustments. In response to proposals to improve our classification and pay systems, refinement and fine-tuning of our survey methods, identification of appropriate labor markets and market trends, and solicitation of feedback from managers will be an on-going process at the University of California, Merced.

The labor market is defined as the area within which employers compete for labor. The market is composed of those businesses and organizations from which UC Merced units recruit or would logically recruit (internal and external markets), and includes the self-employed and unemployed with relevant skill mixes.

The University seeks qualified candidates from within (the internal market) and also competes in local, statewide, regional and national geographical labor markets. Appropriate markets are defined for occupational groupings of jobs or individual jobs based on a number of criteria including:

  • The comparability of competing institutions is defined by the type of industry/institution, comparability of services, size (as reflected by FTE or financial profile), and business status (government, for-profit, not-for-profit).
  • The availability of qualified, diverse applicant pools is determined by the size and composition of applicant pools, applicability of transferable skills, and the available workforce.