It’s International Coaching Week, as proclaimed by the International Coach Federation (ICF). And as part of the festivities, ICF has just released preliminary findings from a global survey of 6,000 coaches, conducted last fall, on the coaching profession.

I’ve been over at Andrea Lee’s blog, participating in a conversation about what the numbers mean.

A few numbers:

• The approximate annual worldwide revenue produced by coaching is $1.5 billion (USD).
• Coaches earn an average of $50,510 (USD) per year.
• 69% percent of coaches are female.
• The average coach is 46-55 years old, has coached for 5-10 years, and 53 percent of coaches have acquired an advanced level of education (i.e., Master’s Degree or Ph.D).
• The majority of coaches maintain 11 active clients at any given time. 
• Coaching clients tend to be 56 percent female/44 percent male, and between 38 and 45 years of age.

The good news is that the $50K per year earnings is higher than any other numbers I’ve seen in the last few years from other studies.

The bad news is that as a profession, we still have a long way to go.  In most professions, someone with 5-10 years of experience, with a graduate degree, would be making more than $50K.  Not to mention the fact that $50K in revenues as a self-employed individual is not the same as a salary of $50K for an employee. 

I’ll stop whining now. My real point is that coaching is still in its infancy, compared to most other professions.