Research carried out for the Museums Association’s (MA) Salary Guidelines 2017 has found that pay in museums is 7% below the market average.
In particular, junior roles are significantly behind comparator roles outside the sector. Assistants in the curator and collections management job area lag 25% behind pay rates for comparator roles, while assistants and officers in learning, programming and outreach lag 13% behind comparators.
The research, which was funded by Arts Council England, raises serious questions about entry to the museum sector, with low pay and the widespread expectation that candidates will have postgraduate qualifications making it harder to recruit a diverse workforce.