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The differences between quality inspectors and quality associates can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a quality associate has an average salary of $50,300, which is higher than the $33,197 average annual salary of a quality inspector.
The top three skills for a quality inspector include calipers, micrometers and quality standards. The most important skills for a quality associate are patients, QA, and quality system.
| Quality Inspector | Quality Associate | |
| Yearly salary | $33,197 | $50,300 |
| Hourly rate | $15.96 | $24.18 |
| Growth rate | -3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 70,978 | 60,168 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 45 | 38 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A Quality Control Inspector is responsible for making sure that the manufactured products in a particular company or organization are up to standard and adheres to the rules and regulations. They continuously monitor production operations where they manually inspect products, accepting and rejecting those that do not meet the standard quality, and provide recommendations should it be necessary. Moreover, the Quality Control Inspectors coordinates with workers to ensure improvements, and with management to report the results.
A quality associate is responsible for ensuring that a new product meets standards for usage and operating. You will perform various tasks that include assisting in identifying quality problems and improving operational processes, writing, disseminating, and maintaining quality documentation and manuals, and verifying logs and databases to monitor and flag quality issues and improvements. In addition, you are responsible for supporting document control and quality audits, reviewing reports and validation protocols, and investigating and diagnosing quality complaints.
Quality inspectors and quality associates have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Quality Inspector | Quality Associate | |
| Average salary | $33,197 | $50,300 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $42,000 | Between $31,000 And $80,000 |
| Highest paying City | Minneapolis, MN | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Nabors Industries | JPMorgan Chase & Co. |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a quality inspector and a quality associate in terms of educational background:
| Quality Inspector | Quality Associate | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Business | Biology |
| Most common college | - | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between quality inspectors' and quality associates' demographics:
| Quality Inspector | Quality Associate | |
| Average age | 45 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 53.5% Female, 46.5% | Male, 44.8% Female, 55.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 8.5% White, 57.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 11.6% White, 55.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 8% |