Salaries for marketing, creative and design talent increased by just 1.1% in 2022 despite inflation peaking at 9.1%, according to the 2023 Salary Guide released Tuesday by Aquent, the largest US marketing/creative staffing firm. The report also noted gender and ethnicity wage disparities were still prevalent.

Aquent said its salary data suggests companies tightened their belts in 2022 and are likely bracing for an economic slowdown this year.

“Our data, based on more than 19,000 actual salaries, illuminates the challenges faced by our industry this past year, including lackluster wage growth and persistent disparities for women and ethnically diverse talent,” said John Chuang, founder and CEO of Aquent. “As companies in our industry look to the future — with economic uncertainty ahead and gender and racial wage disparities still at play — there is still much work to be done.”

While women still face pay disparities, the gender wag gap in marketing/creative improved, according to the data. Men in 2021 were overall paid 16% more than women in the same roles, but that fell to 2.7% in 2022. Aquent also found:

• Men made more than their female counterparts in 12 out of the 15 jobs surveyed, with the largest gaps existing for female UI designers (-15.79%), female UX researchers (-14.63%) and female presentation designers (-8.33%).
• Men earned less than women as digital marketing managers (-19.38%) and SEO managers (-14.47%).

Aquent’s report also found that across positions, ethnically diverse talent earned 2.25% less than white employees in 2022.

• The biggest pay disparities for ethnically diverse talent were for UX researchers (-12.17%), product designers (-7.4%) and digital marketing specialists (-6.02%).
• For many creative, design and copy roles — including art directors, graphic designers, presentation designers and copywriters — there was no difference in pay between ethnically diverse and white employees.

“It should be a priority of every company to address racial and ethnic wage disparities in the workplace,” said Catherine Tapia, DEI council executive sponsor at Aquent. “Employees want to see more diversity and equity in the workplace, and companies must rise to meet that demand.”

Aquent’s report also looked at metaverse roles and found these can be lucrative positions. Concept artists can earn $100,000 while community managers can earn $120,000.