2013 IT Salary Survey

Salary Survey Summary

Are you paying too much or too little to your IT staff? Do you have IT job descriptions? Are you earning what you're worth? Whether employer or employee, it is important to know what other companies are paying in total compensation for a similar position in your area. Learn how your company compares in the area of compensation. Data is as of January 2013.

• IT compensation has increased by 1.98% in the last 12 months. 
• Between January 2012 and January 2013 the total mean compensation for all IT Professionals has increased from $77,773 to $79,312.  This puts overall compensation back at the levels they were at in January 2008 and 2007.
• In mid-sized enterprises, the mean total compensation for all positions has increased by 2.39% from $74,016 to $75,784.   
• In large enterprises, the median compensation has risen from $81,531 to $82,840.
• CIOs compensation has increased in the past 12 months – the mean base compensation is higher and bonuses are about the same as received in the prior year.  The mean compensation for CIOs in large enterprises is now $182,210 (an increase of 6.04%) and $165,820 (an increase of 1.6%) in mid-sized enterprises.
• Median CIO tenure has increased from 4 years and 2 months to 4 years and 3 months.  This is one of the primary drivers for increased compensation for that position.
• Positions in highest demand are all associated with the quality control, records management, data center operations management.
• Over the long term IT executives have fared better in mid-sized companies than large companies.
• In mid-sized companies IT executive salaries have recovered all of the losses sustained in the recession except for only a few cases.
• In large companies IT executive salaries are just below what they were in 2008.
• In 2012 the IT job market grew by 62,500 jobs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) – not enough to employee the number of IT graduates from US universities or to increase demand.
• Lay-offs seem to have tapered off, however some companies continue to cut the size of the IT organizations.
• Cost control is still the rule of the day; however we have seen an increase in the number of “part-timers” and contractors who are focused on particular critical projects.
• On shore outsourcing has peaked and companies are looking to bring IT operations back into their direct control and reduce operating costs.
• A number of enterprises are moving help desks and data center operations in-house which has resulted in an increase demand for data center managers.
• Mandated requirements for records management systems and electronic medical records have increased the demand for quality control staff and custodians (librarians) of mechanized records.
• Companies are continuing to refine the benefits provided to IT professionals. Though benefits such as health care are available to 82%, IT professionals are now paying a greater portion of that cost.

The Janco Associates, Inc. salary survey draws on data collected throughout the year by extensive interviews,  Internet-based survey data, and survey forms completed by businesses throughout the United States and Canada. 

The compensation study (over 160 pages in PDF or WORD and EXCEL with the data) can be ordered here.

If you do not want to purchase the full salary study, you can get just the data for a particular city for a fraction of the cost of the full study.  Just click here to see all the cities covered.

 

IT Median Salaries 2012 vs. 2013

U.S. Department of Labor National Employment Report

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IT job market growth continues to slow from 9,800 jobs in January, 5,500 jobs in February, 5,400 in March, and 4,600 in April - 79,500 jobs added in the last 12 months...

CIO confidence wanes -- hiring slows

There was a net increase of 4,600 jobs in March and for the third month in a row the number of new IT jobs created has continued to see the number of new jobs decrease. In April here was an improvement in computer systems design and related services of 3,300 jobs (versus 3,600 in March); data processing and hosting related services lost 500 jobs (versus losing 1,200 in March); Telecommunications gained 1,200 jobs (versus 700 in March); and other information services gained 600 jobs (versus 200 in March). The three month moving average has moved down.

The labor market participation rate remains at a record low of 63.5%. There are 3,000,000 fewer individuals working than in 2007.

The the three month moving average for IT job market growth trend for IT Professionals has fallen slightly. See charts below.

At the same time Janco's CIO Hiring Plan Forecast looks mixed in the short term with CIOs becoming more cautious in their hiring as the recovery stalls and taxes increase..

The number of new jobs created continues to be lower than the number of jobs needed for the US economy to stay even with adult population growth. The Labor Department has reported the economy added added only 165,000 in April . Unemployment is highest in Nevada and California.

IT Job Market Employment Trends

IT job market grew by 4,600 jobs in April and there was a total of 12,300 jobs added in the last 3 months and 79,500 in the last 12 months.

 

Health Care vs. Financial Services Job Growth

Employment is on the rise in Healthcare IT and spending will reach $40 billion by the end of this year. Much of that growth will come from spending on electronic health record (EHR) systems, mobile health applications and efforts to comply with new government standards. Boosted by increased spending on healthcare software -- which is needed for the roll-out of EHR systems -- the U.S. healthcare IT market is expected to grow at a rate of about 24% per year from 2012 to 2014, the study said. Spending on healthcare software rose 20.5% in the past year, from $6.8 billion in 2010 to a projected $8.2 billion this year. Recent mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare IT market also point to growing private-sector interest in software, which will see sales grow at rate of more than 30% annually from 2012 to 2014.

Industries and occupations related to health care, personal care and social assistance, and construction are projected to have the fastest job growth from now until 2020. Total employment is projected to grow by 14.3 percent over the decade, resulting in 20.5 million new jobs. Despite rapid projected growth, construction is not expected to regain all of the jobs lost during the 2009-12 recession. The bad news is that the number of individuals dropping out of the job market continues to increase and the Labor Participation Percentage continues to fall.

Workforce Participation Rate Remains Low at 63.5%

The 2020 projections incorporate a new BLS system that depicts education, training, and related work experience typically needed for occupations. In occupations in which a master’s degree is typically needed for entry, employment is expected to grow by 21.7 percent, faster than the growth rate for any other education category. In occupations in which apprenticeship is the typical on-the-job training, employment is expected to grow by 22.5 percent, faster than for any other on-the-job training category.

 

Based on this data and interviews that Janco has conducted. Janco predicts there will be more churn in IT staffs as CIOs accelerate their move to more flexible staffing models. CIOs are outsourcing more technical work, including managed IP services such as VoIP and VPNs. They are hiring more contractors for desktop and security services, and they are putting more applications such as remote backup in the cloud. At the same time, they are looking to hire IT people with business and analytical skills, such as risk management and project management. CIOs report that they're having trouble hiring IT people because either they can't find IT professionals with the right business skills or they can't afford them. All of this means more turnover in IT departments.

U.S. employment numbers released Jan. 7 (see chart above) by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Statistics revealed a net gain of 1,000 0 in IT-related jobs in December, representing the seventh straight month of positive job growth in IT labor segments in federal employment data.

One of the drivers of IT jobs in the US is the number of High-Tech Manufacturing jobs that there are in the US. Since 1998, when outsourcing began in earnest, the number of high tech manufacturing jobs in the US, as a percentage of the total has continued to decline. At the same time China has come to be a force that needs to be reckoned with.

Bellwether IT job segments in the BLS data showed a net gain of 10,000 jobs in the last six months of 2010 and 3,000 jobs in October through December. Leading all segments were gains in management and technical consulting services and computer systems design and related services segments, which accounted for 89 percent and 85 percent, respectively, of all new jobs created.

Jobs in the data processing, hosting and related services segment added 200 jobs in December, the worst performing segment in the month. Two job segments in the computer and electronics products industry category added jobs: communications equipment (+500 jobs) and computer and peripheral equipment (+700 jobs).

"The services industry has been on a steady roll since last March; in fact, nearly 95 percent of all new IT-related jobs created since March—54,600 of 56,000 jobs according to federal job loss data—were recorded in the management and technical consulting services and computer systems design and related services segments," said Victor Janulaitis, CEO and chief research officer at IT analyst firm Janco Associates, Inc. "I don't want to overemphasize CIOs' dependency on contractors, consultants and managed services; indeed, they're also making key hires in many areas. But it's clear that demand for full-time workers outside the services sector has yet to experience the kind of momentum witnessed in services jobs."

Janulaitis noted that what the federal government numbers hide are thousands of IT jobs created in other areas of the enterprise that are not considered the traditional IT workforce. "These people are working in business lines, corporate departments, and in various enterprise strategic and operation functions whose jobs require skills well beyond technology," he said. "We believe there are an additional 16 to 20 million IT professionals in the Department of Labor employment statistics on top of the 4 million technical, back office and infrastructure workers who are identified by the government's archaic definition of IT professionals."

Fourth-quarter 2010 volatility in skills and certifications values measured 29.1 percent, an increase of four points from the previous quarter. This represented a return to high volatility rates in the first half of 2010 but less than the record-setting 38.7 percent volatility during summer 2009. Non-certified and certified skills volatility this period—34.7 percent and 23.1 percent, respectively—represents a return to elevated values earlier this year following a brief decline in the third quarter.

"In our IT employment market analysis released last month, we noted that volatility remains the dominant trend right now for IT skills as well as jobs," Janulaitis said. "We've been seeing 28 percent to 38 percent volatility since early 2008 in our quarterly surveys of premium pay for certified and non-certified skills, which is defined as the percent of the 466 skills we survey. Typical quarterly volatility falls in the 14 percent to 19 percent range."

Unemployment Data

During the recession of 2009 - 2013 unemployment in the IT Industry had not been as high as the rest of the United States. Older workers had a higher unemployment rate than your ones. In addition, female high tech employees have not as well as their male counterparts. This is especially true for workers over the age of 55. The unemployment rate for women over the age of 55 for computer and math workers in 2010 was 9.4% versus 8.0% for men.

Unemployment Factoring in People Who Left the Work Force

States with High Unemployment

Labor Force Participation

In April of 2013 the work force participation percentage of all employees (male and female) remained at 63.3% according to the BLS data. That low level has not been seen in over 40 years. That is not a good sign for the overall strength of the recovery.

Assuming that there is a significant downsizing of the military and there are no new programs to get jobs for soldiers coming home then the true unemployment levels will not go down for some time.

H-1B Visas

Offshore outsourcing companies continued to make up the majority of the top H-1B visa users in 2012, according to new government data. These offshore firms have been adding employees by the thousands as their revenues increase. Cognizant, a New Jersey-based IT services provider with major operations overseas, led the list. The company had 9,281 visas approved in 2012 versus 5,095 in 2011.

 

Small Business Employment Trends

Forty-four (44) percent of small business owners hired or tried to hire in the last three months and 33% reported few or no qualified applicants for positions. The figures suggest that job creation has been very weak.  While reports of reductions in employment have returned to “normal” levels, the percent reporting increases in employment has not. The percent of owners reporting hard to fill job openings lost 5 points, falling to 15% of all owners. The Household survey indicates that about 3/4s of the increase in jobs last month were “part time for economic reasons.” That is not a strong labor market. Seasonally adjusted, the net percent of owners planning to create new jobs fell 3 points to 3%, an unfortunate reversal of three months of improved readings. This is definitely not typical of an expansion.

Methodology for Salary Survey

Below Benchmark Range - Highly impacted by forces of the marketplace

Within Benchmark Range - Subject to the normal forces of the marketplace for similar job functions and responsibilities. 

Above Benchmark Range - Not subject to the forces of the marketplace

The Benchmark represents our assessment of the compensation level required for organizations to remain competitive and minimize the risk of losing employees to other organizations. 

Reviews were conducted from the standpoint of a comparison o base salary and, when appropriate, from the additional standpoint of total compensation.  Total compensation is determined by adding the budgetary bonus amounts and an equivalent cash value for above-standard compensation to an individual's base salary. 

The compensation Study data was divided into two categories.  Large companies are companies whose gross revenues are equal to or greater than $500MM.  Mid-sized companies are companies whose gross revenues are less than $500MM.

Survey Size

The survey size and number of participants was

• Large Companies
  • Number of companies 281
  • Number of data points 24,782
• Mid-Sized companies
  • Number of companies 703
  • Number of data points 32,142

Cities Surveyed in the Salary Survey

Janco's 2011 IT Salary Survey includes the following 78 United States cities, as well as 23 selected cities in Canada.  Median compensation data is provided for each city in the survey.     

US Cities

Calgary, AB	Charlotte, PE	Edmonton, AB	Fredericton, NB
Guelph, ON	Halifax, NS	Hamilton, ON	Hull, QC
London, ON	Montreal, QC	Niagara Falls, ON	Ottawa, ON
Quebec City, QC	Regina, SK	Saskatoon, SK	St. John's, NF
Sudbury, ON	Toronto, ON	Vancouver, BC	Victoria, BC
Whitehorse, YT	Windsor, ON	Winnipeg, MB

Positions Surveyed

The following seventy-three (73) positions were surveyed for the Janco Associates, Inc. IT Salary Survey.

IT Positions in Demand

In the short term it looks like companies are starting to use contractors and consultants to meet near term requirements. In addition, almost 1 out of 5 organizations are starting the recruiting process for IT staff.

Based on Janco's interviews and survey data the following positions are in high demand.

 

 

Currently the Mid-Atlantic market is toughest place to find a job.

 

Fringe Benefits for IT Professionals

Companies have started to adjust the fringe benefits provided to IT Professionals.   A full historical comparison of trends in benefits is included with the full version of the Janco IT Salary Survey.

Fringe Benefit Historical Trends

Top Paid CIOs

The top compensation for highest paid CIO is now $8.6 million and that is for Steve Sqaueri the CIO of American Express. From public filings at the SEC we have found that there at least 19 other CIOs who's compensation exceeds $2 million.