While our research indicates about half of all IT organizations plan to increase headcount in the coming year, we are still a ways off from labor shortages or wage inflation. Real incomes are finally starting to grow across broad sectors of the economy, but inflation remains largely in check.
Overall, the Computer Economics 2016 IT Salary Report anticipates wages for the typical IT organization are budgeted for an average 2.9% increase in salaries of IT workers in 2016, as shown in Figure 1 from the study. From organization to organization, however, planning growth in salaries is relatively flat, ranging from 2.0% at the 25th percentile to 3.0% at the 75th percentile. Most IT organizations are budgeted for pay raises in the range of 2.0% to 3.0%.
By way of comparison, the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that total cost of employment for all civilian workers rose 2.0% for the 12 months ended in September. While low by historical standards, real wages did rise. The consumer price index was up only a scant 0.2% for the 12 months ended October. As such, real wages for IT workers rose in 2015 and are likely to do the same in 2016.
The full report estimates 2016 wages for 69 IT job functions for more than 400 U.S. metropolitan areas and 20 industry sectors. We publish salary table in Excel format. The report is based on a study that draws information from our annual salary survey of 100 IT organizations in the U.S., our IT spending outlook survey, our annual IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks study, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics compensation data.
This Research Byte is a brief overview of our study, The Computer Economics IT Salary Report 2016. The full report is available at no charge for Computer Economics client or may be purchased directly from our website (click for pricing).