Surveys Show Shrinking IT Paychecks

ROSE Blog: Rikki's Open Source Exchange

InformationWeek's Marianne Kolbasuk McGee wrote about a recent report by IT staffing firm Yoh that shows wages dropping in the first quarter of 2008 for IT professionals. Marianne's article says that tech wages were 2.7% lower in February 2008 than the same time last year. The study also indicates that the salary decline mirrors what's happening in the US economy overall.

Last month, Marianne wrote about InformationWeek's annual US IT salary survey, and the news isn't good for women. According to the article:

"Regardless of title, a gender gap persists, though female staffers gained some ground the past year. While male IT staffers earn a median salary of $75,000, female staff earn $68,000--a 9% gap, compared with 13% a year ago. Male IT managers pull a median salary of $98,000, 10% more than women managers' $88,000, a slightly bigger gap than last year. Comparative years of experience in IT does not erase the gender gap."

So, although the gender gap narrowed a bit for "IT staffers" (9% gap now), women managers saw a bigger gap this year. One thing's certain for everyone in IT – if you aren't doing so already, now is a good time to start packing your lunches, riding your bike to work, and clipping coupons.