Salary as a predictor of salary: A 20-year study

This study investigated the value of using salary after a few yr. in an organization as a predictor of, and therefore as an intermediate criterion for, salary at a later date. Salary data were collected for each yr. of the 20-yr. careers of 52 aircraft engineers. The salaries were combined to yield yearly distributions, 1 for beginning salary and 1 for each yr. of experience. The resulting distributions were intercorrelated and the following results obtained: (a) 92% of the intercorrelations were significant at the .01 level, (b) correlations between equidistant yr. became larger as tenure increased, and (c) the variance of salaries increased with increasing tenure. It is concluded that salary early in a man's career can be used as an intermediate criterion.