Economic worries
hitting IT professionals
NEW REPORTS HIGHLIGHT THE TOLL THAT FINANCIAL PROBLEMS
ARE TAKING ON TECH SALARIES AND WORKER CONFIDENCE
By Deb Perelman
Suggesting that the credit improving. Though holiday spend- The credit crisis affected IT work-sector’s financial woes are ing may have played a role in wan- ers in the banking and financial
creeping up on technology ing IT confidence—57 percent of IT services sector—these workers
professionals, two new reports workers reported that holiday-related received only a 0.6 percent increase
highlight waning IT confidence and expenses were making it more dif- in 2007 after an 8. 5 percent increase
sliding IT wages in recent months. ficult to pay their bills in Decem- in 2006.
Triggered by lower hiring expec- ber—other numbers suggest that IT managers, including project
tations and financial concerns, IT there are bigger issues at hand. managers and IS managers, received
worker confidence declined for Only 25 percent of IT workers the biggest salary increases at 5 and
the fourth consecutive month in said they expected their companies 7. 8 percent, respectively. However,
January. The confidence index, as to increase head count in January, a IS managers had actually taken a
measured by Hudson, a recruit- 3 percent drop from December. slight (about half a percent) salary
ing and staffing company, found Meanwhile, according to a report hit between 2005 and 2006. ´
that the number of employees who released by careers site Dice, tech-described their finances as “excel- nology professionals received much Plan for the worst 30
lent” fell 5 percent in January to a smaller pay raises in 2007 than
low of 14 percent. they did in 2006. While IT salaries Top money-saving technologies 32
There was an additional 5 percent increased 5. 4 percent in 2006 (to Will stimulus package help? 33
drop in the number of IT workers $73,308), they grew by only 1.7 per- The IT jobs at risk 34
who said that their finances were cent in 2007 (to $74,570).
