I AM about to graduate from university and am looking for work. I’ve heard that IT has always paid quite well, is this still true?
Historically, IT was one of the best paid areas to work in, but this has recently begun to change. In the late Nineties, IT staff were in great demand as companies tried to ward off the millennium bug and also join the rush to take advantage of the internet. Supply and demand pressures meant that IT salaries spiralled as companies struggled to get and keep IT employees. In 1999, 87 per cent of companies were paying a premium to IT staff, and by early 2001 IT jobs were paid on average 10 per cent more than the average for other functions.
But since 2001 there has been an influx of IT staff to the market. Many of the staff who were employed for Y2K projects were released, and the burst of the dot-com bubble left many IT professionals redundant. The dot-com boom also saw a boom in the number of IT applicants to universities. These graduates have now entered the workforce and provide a further supply of IT professionals. As a result, companies no longer have to pay a premium to attract new recruits. The pay differentials for IT are small, and IT staff are paid about 2 per cent more than other functions on average. Expect this situation to continue as the demand for IT professionals is met by adequate supply — so IT is no longer an especially high-paying function.
Advertisement
Information provided by Charlotte Saunders at people management consultancy The Hay Group. The UK HayPayNet database is compiled from salaries supplied by more than 600 organisations. www.haypaynet.com