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The differences between public health microbiologists and biology laboratory assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a public health microbiologist, becoming a biology laboratory assistant takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a public health microbiologist has an average salary of $64,113, which is higher than the $34,240 average annual salary of a biology laboratory assistant.
The top three skills for a public health microbiologist include extraction, quality control procedures and body fluids. The most important skills for a biology laboratory assistant are lab equipment, biology laboratory, and chemistry.
| Public Health Microbiologist | Biology Laboratory Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $64,113 | $34,240 |
| Hourly rate | $30.82 | $16.46 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 65,489 | 48,958 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 90% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
Public health administrators are like health administrators, except that their focus is on population health. When working at an office, outreach is a critical part of their work. They will need to interface with the community they serve. They travel outside of the office for fundraising, public speaking, and public engagement on a regular basis. Their responsibilities include developing community programs that improve public health, assessing community health issues, and creating budgets related to public health operations.
A biology laboratory assistant is in charge of assisting scientists or researchers and performing laboratory support tasks on a daily basis. Their responsibilities include setting up and sanitizing equipment, preparing samples, maintaining documentation of all experiments and procedures, writing laboratory reports, and running errands as needed. There are also instances where they must update databases, answer calls and correspondence, and grade student papers. Furthermore, a biology laboratory assistant must maintain the cleanliness of laboratories, all while implementing its policies and regulations.
Public health microbiologists and biology laboratory assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Public Health Microbiologist | Biology Laboratory Assistant | |
| Average salary | $64,113 | $34,240 |
| Salary range | Between $45,000 And $90,000 | Between $22,000 And $52,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Bridgewater, MA |
| Highest paying state | - | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | - | Massachusetts General Hospital |
| Best paying industry | - | Government |
There are a few differences between a public health microbiologist and a biology laboratory assistant in terms of educational background:
| Public Health Microbiologist | Biology Laboratory Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 90% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Microbiology | Biology |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Duke University |
Here are the differences between public health microbiologists' and biology laboratory assistants' demographics:
| Public Health Microbiologist | Biology Laboratory Assistant | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 29.3% Female, 70.7% | Male, 36.7% Female, 63.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 2.3% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 6.3% Asian, 11.1% White, 74.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 12.4% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 13.7% Asian, 14.9% White, 50.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 6% |