IT Expanding Demand, Expanding Salaries

The Information Technology sector continues to expand so far in 2012. Investment continues both in infrastructure and in staffing. Software developers, Health IT, and Security Cleared IT are in high demand. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that from 2008 to 2018 Computer Software Engineers 283,000 jobs will be added. This adds to the competition for talent

Along with the increased competition for IT talent, are increased salaries, according to the 17th annual Redmond Salary Survey. Salaries stagnated for some years but many employers are seeing the wisdom of salary increases to current employees in order to stay competitive and retain technical talent.

There is also movement by employees at companies that are not giving raises. Despite very specific needs and employer demands for very specific skill sets and experience, for those who change companies, there is an associated salary increase. Given the 3.6 percent unemployment rate among IT workers that upward pressure on salaries looks set to continue.

We are seeing more competition this year for experienced security, networking, analytics, and cleared software developers,” reports Beth Cliff, IT Engineering Recruitment Manager at Redfish Technology. “Hiring companies are carefully evaluating the available talent and in many cases scaling salary offers to meet talent acquisition goals.”

According to the ESJ Salary Survey 2012 Part 1, the largest jump in salary was awarded to enterprise architects (up 10 percent), and Internet managers got the largest bonuses (up 55 percent). Across the board IT professionals in application areas such as SOA, business intelligence and analytics, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) saw salaries rise.

But it isn’t only IT professionals who stand to benefit from raises, according to the recent U.S. Compensation Planning Survey by Mercer, most U.S. employers plan on increasing base salary in 2013. Those who stand to benefit the most are predicted to be the top-performing talent, i.e. the top 8 percent of the workforce.