Total compensation averaged about $146,000. (Since not all respondents received or listed bonuses, the average total compensation for the survey base does not reflect the addition of average salary and average bonus.)

Logic President Bill Perry warned that survey-wide statistical benchmarks can be deceiving. "You need to slice and dice salaries, first by the size of the organization, but also by the type of industry you are in, and even the geographic location of your employer," he said.

Indeed, those in 14 industries recorded average salaries above the survey-wide figure, with "Metals/Mining" recording the highest average salary--about $203,000. Those managing risks in the insurance business averaged nearly $163,000, while entertainment risk managers posted an average of close to $149,000.

As noted, the base salary is just one portion of a risk manager's overall compensation at most firms. Bonuses for the entire survey base averaged nearly $22,000--but as with salary, the average bonus reflected the size of the employer.

At companies doing less than $500 million in sales, the average bonus was just over $5,000. However, at all other organizations, the average bonus was never less than $20,000 for those receiving a bonus, with the highest average bonus going to those at the biggest firms, those with sales above $12 billion--nearly $44,000.

"While salaries have remained flat for many risk managers in this tough economy, bonuses have remained very healthy, and in fact have grown in some instances," said Mr. Perry. "That means compensation is very much performance-based."

He added that "this can work to a risk manager's advantage because their work is so clearly measurable--whether in terms of loss frequency and severity, an improvement in productivity due to better return-to-work ratios, insurance premiums paid from year to year, or the total cost of risk."

Meanwhile, over one-third of those surveyed also received stock options, further tying total compensation to the company's performance. And there were other perks for some, including about 12 percent who reported driving a company car.

There still may be a gender gap in risk management, the survey confirmed. About 25 percent of those responding were female, and their average salary was a little over $112,000, significantly lower than the $136,000 average among their male counterparts. The same trend held for bonuses, with women averaging over $14,000, against the nearly $24,000 posted by male respondents who got bonuses.

However, Mr. Perry does not believe a risk manager's gender is playing any role in corporate hiring decisions these days, based on his own extensive placement experience.

Instead, he attributes the gender gap to the fact that many of the most experienced risk managers are working for bigger companies that pay more by nature of the size of their operations and the complexity of the jobs being performed.

"Women continue to gain ground in risk management," he said. "As they keep working their way up the ladder in this profession, these average salary gaps will narrow and eventually disappear."

The good news is that job security for risk managers and their staff members are better than expected despite the mass layoffs affecting most of the economy following the financial crash, credit crunch and lingering recession, the survey found. Eighty-four percent said there have been no layoffs in their departments over the past 12 months.

In addition, job satisfaction is very high even with all the extra work and challenges risk managers are taking on. Half said they are "satisfied" with their jobs, and 44 percent described themselves as "very satisfied."

Only 5.6 percent said they are "dissatisfied" at work, with compensation likely a prime factor, as these respondents reported an average salary of just under $100,000 and a bonus of $8,675, far below their more satisfied peers.

(Those looking to more specifically benchmark their salary and job functions given the state, industry and size of company they work for can contact Bill Perry, president of New York-based Logic Associates, at 212-227-8000, or via e-mail at [email protected].)