IT Salaries Rising Again

IT salaries downward spiral has slowed as demand for IT pros has stabilized, according to a new report released this week from Janco Associates Inc., a Park City, Utah, management consultancy that focuses on IT.

The report, “2003 Mid-Year Information Technology Compensation Study,” found that the mean salary for all positions surveyed in large enterprises climbed to $80,030 in the second quarter of 2003, from $78,687 in the final quarter of 2002. In midsized companies, median pay grew to $75,769 from $72,619.

That small increase means that at least in large organizations, pay is not keeping pace with inflation, the report found. At midsized companies, compensation is falling for certain positions, such as e-commerce and wireless. For example, voice/wireless communications managers salary at midsized companies fell 10.98 percent, from $107,244 in January to $96,632 this month.

Overall salaries for top-ranking IT executives also shrank overall during the past six months—the second consecutive year since 1985 where such shrinkage has occurred, the report said. According to the report, reductions in performance bonuses for senior positions account for most of the decrease.

The report found high demand for jobs associated with the Internet and e-commerce, including Webmasters, voice and wireless communication, object programming, data security and data warehousing, in spite of the fact that salaries are falling for many of these positions.

Another finding was that a large number of workers between the ages of 50 to 65 years are postponing retirement due to their retirement portfolios loss of value. Many of these individuals have taken positions that pay less, have less responsibility and more modest titles, in order to stay employed, according to the report. This has resulted in an overqualified work force that is providing superior training for greener IT staff, which is in turn causing higher productivity, the report found.