Despite Looming Recession, PR Budgets will Increase Across Energy, Travel in the Next Year, Muck Rack Survey Finds

Utilities/oil/energy industry is most likely to increase PR budgets; Travel/tourism PR is only industry without planned budget decreases

Nearly half (46%) of PR and Communications pros across brands, agencies, nonprofits and government plan to increase their budget in the next year, according to Muck Rack’s first-ever State of PR Salaries report released today.

The report, which is a deep dive into salaries, budgets and hours worked by PR teams across industries, is a subset of Muck Rack’s annual 2022 State of PR Survey.

Utilities/oil/energy, accounting, tech, travel/tourism and financial services are most likely to see an increase in PR budgets over the next year. PR pros working in tech, entertainment and nonprofits are least likely to expect budget decreases, while those working in airlines/aviation, automotive and ecommerce/retail are most likely to see budget decreases. Travel/tourism is the only industry where zero survey respondents said they expected a decrease in their budget.

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Salaries and work hours

When it comes to PR salaries, pros at brands are the highest earners, with 50% earning $100K or more annually and 26% earning more than $150K annually. Company size does not correspond with salary, but company revenue does: More than half of PR pros at companies with revenue of $1B+ earn $150K+ annually. Big revenues also correspond with longer hours: 65% of PR pros at $1B+ companies work more than 40 hours per week.

PR pros who work in airlines/aviation, apparel/fashion and financial services are the highest earners. The industries with the highest percentage of PR pros working more than 40 hours per week are travel/tourism, healthcare, government, tech, food/beverage and nonprofits. PR directors work the most hours per week, while PR CEOs work most frequently after hours or on weekends.

PR pros at nonprofits work the most hours, are most likely to work after hours and on weekends, and earn the least (58% of PR pros at nonprofits earn less than $70k annually).

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