From studying US maritime pay ratios from the 1980s until now: in the limited tonnage realm an AB makes about half of what a captain makes. 1986, 2026. Little difference in the ratio.
From the standpoint of the employer, here are the market forces;
ABs are transitory positions. Meaning an AB can become a mate, or they can leave the industry altogether. Generally, they move up, or they move out once they get get married and have kids. Long-term static ABs are a uncommon, when you consider all the ABs who quit along the way, and the more uncommon good ABs are, the greater the wage they will command.
Contrast with a captain. Captains pick their jobs as a career. They stay captains, with more and more captains building up every year. There are at times more captains looking for work than ABs, because the transitory nature of ABs results in highs and low of AB supply. Whereas the supply of captains is usually static. Periods of low supply increases cost. Static supply tends to static costs.
Captains are very often in their 50s. Treasured by their companies, certainly, but not overly sought after by American business in general.
On the other hand, beginning ABs are largely drawn from the key component of the American blue-collar workforce: young males with a high school education, a work ethic, and a strong back. Most American employers treasure this demographic above all others. So do police, fire department, and the military. It is a bidding war on these bodies. A boat legally needs ABs to sail, so a company has to pay a good wage for them, or they will get snapped up in some other industry.
How much is a good wage?
Annual AB pay is pretty close to US national figure for annual household income. Say, $80k.That’s the bellwether. Which is not bad. And everything I said goes for QMEDs too.
Shipping companies are in competition with each other. That means keeping costs low. Captains are static, so their pay tends to be static. They aren’t going anywhere.
Upward pressure on the wage scale comes from AB jobs. But since there is a longstanding ratio between AB pay, mate pay and captain pay, if AB pay rises 10% because of lack of ABs then a company raises licensed pay, too, at least 10%. Otherwise the wage-scale falls apart. The scale is: captains make twice as much as ABs, and mates fall in between. That’s what everyone expects, at least since the 1980s. Disturb the scale and you have unrest. Better to just keep it. But the pressure on the whole scale usually comes from rising AB pay.
Now, why do US captains make 2X more than an AB, rather than 5X? If one company raises its captains’ pay to 5 times the bellwether they are suddenly at a financial disadvantage in wage-costs with every other company. Why would they do that? And all the other mariners in the company would demand to make much more also, in the belief that if there is money to pay the captain that amount, there must be money to pay everyone that amount. So the ratio is what it is.
