$88 Per Hour For Ketchum PR Interns From American Government
In part three of our analysis of the study which revealed that the American federal government is the 2nd largest Public Relations company in the world, we review the pay for government public relations.
The report – which may be read in full here, is entitled “How Federal agency PR spending advances their interests rather than the public interest fiscal years 2007 – 2014.” The study reviewed that interns are being billed by PR firms to the government at rates between $48 – $88. Surely, PR companies aren’t paying them anywhere near that. The study reviewed contracts of those contracting with the federal government, and included pay scales for interns.
“A review of contractor billing rates for this position of INTERN shows a range between $48.36 per hour ($100,589 per year) by Hill + Knowlton Strategies, $55.21 per hour ($114,837 per year) by Fleishman-Hillard, $60.76 per hour ($126,381 per year) by Ogilvy Public Relations, and up to $88.26 per hour ($183,581 per year) by Ketchum!
Ketchum actually pays their interns – which is a good thing – since they are billing Uncle Sam for the annual equivalent of $183k per year. Ketchum advertises their ‘internship position’ on their website and actively recruits college students. The pay rate is not disclosed, but the market does not bear $183,000 per annum. Ketchum is billing out their ‘web developer’ position for $186.33 per hour, or $387,566 per year; billing their ‘video producer editor’ for $242.72 per hour or $504,848 per year; billing their Video Content Producer for $273.67 per hour or $569,234 per year; and so forth…”
The Government Spending in PR report further indicated that:
“The public affairs officer position inside the federal government is a lucrative position with more than half of the 3,092 public affairs positions making over $100,000 per year while also eligible for performance bonuses.”
Rates charged to the government by Ketchum PR are revealed below.
