The US National Institutes of Health is raising the minimum salary for its main category of postdoctoral researchers by 8?per cent, its largest single-year jump, but still short of the level recommended in an agency analysis.

The increase, higher than the 5 per cent rise over the past year in the nation¡¯s overall inflation rate, covers 5,000 scientists funded through the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards.

Those beneficiaries do not include the Kirschstein programme¡¯s predoctoral students, who will get a 4 per cent increase, or the far larger number of postdoctoral students whose pay is set by their universities.

The NIH said it was making the commitment despite absorbing a slight decrease in funding from Congress in the federal government¡¯s most recent annual budget.

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

That decision on researcher pay hikes, the NIH said, reflected the agency¡¯s long-standing attempts to balance salary levels with the number of Kirschstein scholars it?could support. ¡°The approach allows for an immediate stipend increase without drastic cuts to the number of available awards,¡± Michael Lauer, the NIH¡¯s deputy director in charge of extramural research, said in announcing the increases.

In a sign the NIH might be finding a productive balance with younger scholars, the agency announced separately that its data showed in inequalities in its main research project grant funding ¨C as measured by the share of award dollars won by the top 1 per cent and top 10 per cent of scientists ¨C apparently due in large part to the Next Generation Researchers Initiative that it implemented in 2017 to help increase funding for younger researchers.

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

Last December, the NIH¡¯s Advisory Committee to the Director, a panel of experts consisting primarily of established academic scientists, issued a report on NIH-supported postdoctoral training that, as its first recommendation, urged higher pay and benefits for all NIH-supported postdoctoral scholars.

The author group that prepared the report said it ¡°feels strongly that increasing compensation for postdoctoral scholars is the top priority¡±. The experts suggested a minimum salary of $70,000 (?56,000) in 2024 for postdoctoral workers in the Kirschstein programme. The 8 per cent raise, however, brings that number only to about $61,000 for next year.

While the goal is ¡°to allow for an immediate pay increase without drastic cuts to the number of available NRSA awards,¡± the NIH said, ¡°a small reduction in the number of positions is expected¡±.

The NIH is the world¡¯s largest single public funder of biomedical and behavioural research, and the largest provider of basic research money to US universities. Its lack of any budget increase this year ¨C meaning a cut relative to inflation ¨C is due largely to the expiration of a 2016 measure, the Cures Act, in which Congress began a decade-long budget boost of about $5 billion for the NIH budget, which now sits at around $47 billion.

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

Under the circumstances, the NIH appeared to have made a good decision, said a leading expert in research equity, Donna Ginther, a professor of economics at the University of Kansas who was part of the author group that wrote the report for the NIH¡¯s advisory committee.

The NIH data showing an extended decline in funding inequalities was also a promising sign, Professor Ginther said.

¡°This is a step in the right direction for sure,¡± she said. ¡°I am hopeful that the salary adjustments increase in a three-year time frame as opposed to longer.¡±

paul.basken@timeshighereducation.com