An engineer's average term of employment with a leading electronics company is about six years, according to the company's employment bro-chure. The salary of an engineer with the company for one year averaged just above $8,000 per year, while a 15-year engineer earned about $12,500.
The median annual salary of scientists in the U.S. for 1956-1958 was $7,900, according to the National Science Foundation. Of the 137,000 scientists who completed questionnaires, about half were in private industry or self-employed. About 28% worked at educational institutions and 14% for the Federal government. Managers had the highest median salary, $11,000 per year, while those in teaching reported the lowest median, $6,500.
For a whole winter, a newspaper editor in a Long Island community assiduously attended adult-education classes in space navigation. But when the day for the final exam came, he failed to get credit for the course because he got lost trying to find the school in a neighboring town where the exam was being given. Moral: He who would conquer space must first conquer the expressway exits. (Electronic Design, Nov. 9, 1960, p. 208)
Here's another look at the salary levels of the period. I just couldn't resist including the last item.