IT salaries on the up despite departmental budget cuts

Despite the current economic downturn and widespread job cuts, IT is still a great sector in which to be employed, with salaries above those of most non-technically oriented professions.

The latest figures from Meta Group's 2003 IT Staffing and Compensation Guide, which polled companies in 14 industries across 40 countries, show salaries in IT have continued to rise over the past year, against a backdrop of declining overall departmental budgets.

Rises average out at about five per cent year-on-year, with an eight to ten per cent increase for people will the more in-demand skills - figures backed up by silicon.com's own annual Skills Survey, carried out across the UK, France and Germany in February and March this year.

Maria Schafer, programme director at Meta Group, said in a statement: "What is most interesting is the fact that, despite [IT budgets continuing to decline slightly or remain flat], we expect IT compensation to actually rise, in some cases at the expense of non-IT employees."

Indeed, across the sample, 75 per cent of respondents to the Meta study pay IT employees more than non-technical staff, up from 67 per cent a year ago. The historic high was a figure of 80 per cent, achieved during the boom year of 2000.

And despite figures that show the increased importance of training and general career development in keeping staff - this year's silicon.com survey highlighted a still strong demand for more in-house training - Meta found the top method of retention is hard cash, often in the form of a bonus.

And if these are considered a quirk of the 20th century where you work, you can tell your boss that 54 per cent of respondents say their companies still offer IT staff an annual year-end bonus.