IT salary survey: Half of IT executives expect pay increases in 2010

CIO Salary Survey

IT salary survey: Half of IT executives expect pay increases in 2010

Will most IT executives get pay increases for 2010, and if so, how much? The annual SearchCIO.com annual IT salary and careers survey shows a big rebound from 2009, with an even half expecting pay increases next year, and some healthy digits.

In all, some 50% of the 949 respondents to our salary survey expect to get a pay increase in 2010, compared with 38% in 2009. They expect an average pay increase of 4.8% for 2010, and a median pay increase of 3.5%. There is considerable variability among industries, as shown below.

On the flip side, some 11% expect either a pay cut (4%) or an unpaid furlough (7%). This is fewer than in 2009, however, when 13% had pay cuts and 10% had furloughs, according to the salary survey. In addition, 48% reported that their IT organizations were smaller now than a year ago; 67% reported layoffs as the cause.

Besides our industry breakouts, we also charted raises by company lifecycle stage (where younger stage companies seem to be offering higher raises than more mature ones) as well as by reported level of morale. Even those citing their workplaces as "pessimistic" had strong salary growth, though -- showing that perhaps evidence of the economic recovery is in sight.

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 Due to sample size, some of the data shown below is more anecdotal than statistically relevant -- but we wanted to share as many specifics as possible.

2010 expected salary adjustments
 Average increase (N=471)  4.8%
 Median  3.5%
 Mode  3%
By industry
 Industry
 Average raise
 Base
 IT-related services
 8.8%
 24
 Government
 5.9%
 49
 Legal/insurance/real estate
 5.9%
 49
 Energy/utilities
 4.8%
 11
 Medical/health care
 4.77%
 44
 Manufacturing
 4.6%
 35
 Wholesale/retail
 4.6%
 18
 Financial services
 4.4%
 41
 Financial services
 4.4%
 41
 Aerospace
 4.4%
 10
 Education
 3.8%
 31
 Nonprofit
 3.6%
 10
 Computer-related retail/
wholesale/distribution
 3.5%
 11
Company lifecycle stage
 Stage
 Average raise
 Base
 Young
 6.6%
 13
 Midlife
 5.6%
 72
 Mature
 4.5%
 163

Excludes nonprofits, government agencies and startups.

Those citing workplace mood as…
 
Average raise
Base
 Optimistic
 5.1%
118
 Pessimistic
 4.4%
107
 Neither
 5%
119