Research for the updated 2009 edition of the Museums Association's (MA) salary guidelines was undertaken against a background of the early signs of financial insecurity, and by the time of the report's recent publication insecurity had become full-blown recession.
Given collapsing banks, the escalating national debt, Olympic overspend and the forthcoming general election - not to mention the review of the Renaissance scheme, which has supported so many junior to mid-level museum posts - this hardly seems the best moment to be arguing for higher and more consistent levels of pay. But continue to argue for them we must.
Encouragingly, the MA's research points to an overall improvement and greater parity in pay at most levels in our sector, but there are signs that the pay gap between national and university museums on one hand, and independent and local authority museums on the other, may be widening. More worryingly, particularly at entry level, pay in some non-national organisations is still so far behind the guidelines as to be almost insulting.
It's at entry level, too, which is dominated by short-term and non-established posts, that employers may see yet further ways to cut costs as funding becomes tighter.
There are already signs that some local authorities are proposing both pay and post freezes; a sure signal that we may be losing sight of the need to retain and reward existing expertise, and to develop promising new colleagues who will become the new experts and bring energy, fresh thinking and greater diversity to our organisations.
Because people are by far the most expensive element of museums' budgets, there can be a tendency in times of financial hardship to lose sight of the fact that without good people our collections in effect become dead assets.
Building and maintaining an increasingly confident and diverse workforce hasn't happened by accident. In addition to arguing for improved levels of pay, we have also begun to take a greater collective responsibility for training and career development and for opening up new routes into the sector.
We must make sure, then, that we don't slip backwards to a point where we are unable to respond creatively to economic and social recovery when it comes.
We will almost certainly have to face the reality of fewer jobs and frozen posts, but this must not signal a lower value being assigned to those that are available. Pay levels and contracts that reflect skills and experience are vital to museums' abilities to meet public expectations and funders' requirements.
And we mustn't lose sight of the fact that, in our commitment to public and academic engagement with our collections, in the end, museums are all about people.
Nichola Johnson is the director of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich.
Given collapsing banks, the escalating national debt, Olympic overspend and the forthcoming general election - not to mention the review of the Renaissance scheme, which has supported so many junior to mid-level museum posts - this hardly seems the best moment to be arguing for higher and more consistent levels of pay. But continue to argue for them we must.
Encouragingly, the MA's research points to an overall improvement and greater parity in pay at most levels in our sector, but there are signs that the pay gap between national and university museums on one hand, and independent and local authority museums on the other, may be widening. More worryingly, particularly at entry level, pay in some non-national organisations is still so far behind the guidelines as to be almost insulting.
It's at entry level, too, which is dominated by short-term and non-established posts, that employers may see yet further ways to cut costs as funding becomes tighter.
There are already signs that some local authorities are proposing both pay and post freezes; a sure signal that we may be losing sight of the need to retain and reward existing expertise, and to develop promising new colleagues who will become the new experts and bring energy, fresh thinking and greater diversity to our organisations.
Because people are by far the most expensive element of museums' budgets, there can be a tendency in times of financial hardship to lose sight of the fact that without good people our collections in effect become dead assets.
Building and maintaining an increasingly confident and diverse workforce hasn't happened by accident. In addition to arguing for improved levels of pay, we have also begun to take a greater collective responsibility for training and career development and for opening up new routes into the sector.
We must make sure, then, that we don't slip backwards to a point where we are unable to respond creatively to economic and social recovery when it comes.
We will almost certainly have to face the reality of fewer jobs and frozen posts, but this must not signal a lower value being assigned to those that are available. Pay levels and contracts that reflect skills and experience are vital to museums' abilities to meet public expectations and funders' requirements.
And we mustn't lose sight of the fact that, in our commitment to public and academic engagement with our collections, in the end, museums are all about people.
Nichola Johnson is the director of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich.
