Average salaries for technology professionals decline in 2004

Survey Points to Changes in Technology Landscape
Defense and Government Industry Salaries Rise while Computer Software Salaries Fall Washington D.C., Southern California and Atlanta Show Improved Pay

Dice Inc. the job board for technology, engineering and security-cleared professionals, today released results of its 2004 Annual Salary Survey. The survey of more than 23,000 technology professionals details key industry trends and points to changes in the technology landscape as demand for specialized technology skills continues to escalate in the government and defense sectors. Significant trends in the survey include:

A decline in overall salaries to levels not seen since before 2001, but an increase in salaries in non-traditional technology cities, such as Washington D.C., Atlanta and the Southern California area.

An increase in salaries in defense and government related industries where security clearances are often required.

A continued gender gap in pay of approximately 11 percent.

The continued decline of salaries for contractors and consultants.

Overall, technology salaries in the United States decreased 2.6 percent from an average of $69,600 in 2003 to $67,800 in 2004, partly due to declines in the computer software industry (down 5.7 percent) and a steep decline in the Internet services sector (down 9.8 percent). Sliding salaries for contractors and consultants also contributed to the overall decline: contract workers in 2004 reported earning an average of $82,000, 9.1 percent less than 2003 salaries and almost 20 percent less than they reported in 2001.

For the third year in a row, government and defense salaries proved to be the bright spot in the survey, with a 2.9 percent gain, from $64,600 to $66,500. With an average salary of $77,700, the financial services industry remained the top paying industry for technology professionals tracked by the salary survey, despite declining 2.4 percent since last year.

ìSalaries are still feeling the impact of the tech slowdown of 2002 and 2003,î said Scot Melland, president and CEO of Dice Inc. ìNow that demand is picking up, we anticipate seeing salaries rise as the labor markets tighten. In fact, we have already started to see this happening in markets such as Southern California, Washington D.C., Atlanta and in the government and defense related industries.î

Gender Gap
The gender gap held steady this year at about 11 percent, as women reported salaries on average of $60,400 and men reported earning an average of $67,800.

The gap varied significantly by industry: womenís salaries ranged from on par to menís in the computer hardware industry to 17 percent less in the banking and financial sector.

Notably, the gender gap was lowest for women who entered the tech market during the tech boom years (those with three to five years of experience); they earned just 1.4 percent less than their male counterparts in 2004

Geography
Salaries have improved in Washington D.C. (up 3.6 percent), Atlanta (up 2.6 percent) and Southern California (up 1.1 percent) from 2003. These metro areas have also seen significant growth in job postings on the Dice site, up 93 percent, 140 percent and 74 percent respectively between December of 2003 and December of 2004.

Despite seeing salaries decline in 2004, Silicon Valley and New York remained the top two paying markets for technology workers in the United States with average salaries of $84,200 and $76,500 respectively. Atlanta replaced Boston as the third highest paying market in 2004 with an average salary of $75,500.

Atlanta and San Diego are the only major metro areas to have salaries increase since 2001; average salaries in 2004 were 5.0 percent and 3.5 percent higher, respectively, compared to 2001.

Age & Experience
As expected, earning power increased with age and experience. The average salary for technology professionals between the ages of 18 and 24 was $34,400, while technology professionals over 50 reported average salaries of $79,000.

Of note, year over year salary decreases got smaller with age: from a 13.5 percent decrease for respondents between 18 and 24 to a 1.1 percent increase for workers over 50.

Skills and Titles
Management positions continue to dominate the top five paying job titles. In 2004, MIS manager positions had the largest salary gain versus 2003 compared to other titles, increasing 1.2 percent to $77,900. Since 2001, salaries for this position have increased 11 percent. The highest paying titles remained identical to 2003: IT management professionals were at the top with $101,500 and project management professionals followed with $85,700.

Salaries for PC technicians and help desk professionals saw the largest decreases dropping 10.4 percent (to $33,600) and 9.5 percent (to $35,300) respectively.

Top paying skills for 2004 included Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP ($80,600) and Sybase ($77,200).

Full-time workers with Unix and C/C , the skills most requested on Dice.com, reported earning $75,500 and $66,100 respectively.

Users can log on to http://marketing.dice.com/rateresults to search for specific salary information based on location, job function, skills and education. Dice.com currently lists more than 60,000 permanent, contract and consulting jobs nationwide for a wide variety of positions from software developers, engineers and project managers to CIOs and other technology professionals.

Information for the Dice Salary Survey Report was collected from over 23,000 Dice.com visitors between January and December of 2004.

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